Deadly Fun
by Pen-Name-Kitsune-chan
Summary: DISCONTINUED femKyuubi ItaNaru LxLight yaoi yuri. Now adopted by Imperial Mint.
1. A Second Chance

**Here's Deadly Fun chapter one! (lol, I originally had it "first chapter of Deadly Fun", but then I noticed that fun and one rhyme! Yes, I'm currently sleep deprived and have had a bit too much caffeine. Why do ya ask?)**

**This is a Death Note x Naruto crossover.**

**Summary: Those who use the Death Note can neither go to Heaven nor to Hell. When Light dies, something prevents the Shinigami from finding him and his soul is cast of into Void, the dimension that doesn't exist. From there it is drawn to the Shinigami's seal, the Shiki Fuujin... And into the world of one Uzumaki Naruto.**

**Warning: spoilers for the entire Death Note anime and for the Naruto subbed anime. This picks up just after Naruto, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato go to Orochimaru's lair to rescue Sasuke. It contains spoilers up until then. Yaoi. Yuri. ItaNaru. Dark!ish Naruto. **

**Please review! Constructive criticism is coveted, and WILL help improve my writing! I'll do my best to answer any and all questions! Please give me any suggestions/ ideas/ requests you have! It'll help me get over writer's block (MAJOR problem for me), and it'll improve the reading experience for you! I accept anonymous reviews, btw. Feel free to flame! Adds to my review count. :P**

**And anyone who reviews gets a cookie! (If you flame, you get a burnt cookie!)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Death Note**

**Rated M for later chapters**

**I've mildly edited this, btw. I always do this whenever I pick a story up after a hiatus. It helps me get over writer's block and get in the writing mood.**

**Key:**

"Blah"-** regular speech**

Blah- **regular text/ emphasis within a flashback or dream or thoughts**

'_Blah'_-** thoughts**

_Blah-_** dream text/ emphasis on a word or statement/ flashback text**

"_Blah"-_** dream speech**

"**Blah"- demon form/ dragon (or just something really really big) speech**

'_**Blah'-**_** demon form/ dragon (or just something really really big) thoughts**

"_**Blah"**_**- demon form/ dragon (or just something really really big) speech within a dream/ flashback**

'_Blah'_-** speech over a communication device of some sort.**

"Blah"**- speech in a language other than whichever one the shinobi normally speak in (Japanese or English, or some other language) (language spoken in tends to be demonic, Universal, or some other language.)**

**(Blah)****- Mid-Chapter Author's Notes**

**Enjoy!**

_Pain. All he could feel was pain. His body was riddled with wounds. Was that what hurt?_

_Thinking. Wondering. Probing with his mind. No, his body was in pain but it didn't hurt. It was more like a light blinking than anything else._

_What hurt him so much then? Thinking. Remembering. What happened? Nate. Matsuda. Mikami. Aizawa. Mogi. Ide. Failing. Nononononono! He couldn't fail!_

_Ryuuku laughing. Lying on the staircase as his heart beat, slowing down. Failure. Being revealed._

_He was weak! He was stupid! He fell for it! He should've thought that the notebook was a fake! He should've planned for it!_

_It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. He was dead. Where was he? 'Those who use the Death Note can neither go to Heaven nor to Hell.' Ryuuku's words. If __he wasn't in Heaven or in Hell then where was he? The Shinigami world? Stuck in limbo?_

_He didn't know. He felt weird. He didn't feel. He didn't see. He didn't hear. He didn't smell. What had happened?_

_He had died by Ryuuku's hand. The Shinigami had written his name down. Light knew that suddenly. He hadn't known it before, but he did now._

_Where was he?_

_He was nowhere. He should've been in the Shinigami world, for he had been a prime Death Note user, unlike Mikami, who had been a secondary Death Note user and would end up in limbo._

_How could he be nowhere? Didn't one have to be somewhere in order to exist?_

_The Shinigami world was in a state of confusion caused by the rapid changes that Kira had brought on. He'd changed the world so fast that it didn't have time to adjust, and it was thrown off. Heaven was taking a big break because so few nice people were dying recently, but Hell and the Shinigami world were in turmoil. So many bad people and Death note users dying. He could be nowhere and exist because it was possible, and it was silly of humans to assume otherwise._

_How did he now know these things one second and know them the next?_

_He had always known them. He was just now remembering them. He was in Void, the nothing world, the world where luminal space comes from so it can exist by not existing, and in Void one remembered things that one had forgotten could be known_

_Why was he in Void and not in the Shinigami world? And if for some reason, he couldn't go to the Shinigami world why didn't he cease to exist?_

_The Shinigami world was busy and being sloppy, and they never received the memo that he died because Ryuuku never bothered to tell them and something was interrupting the signal. He didn't cease to exist because it's impossible to exist one moment and to not exist the next. So, since nothing else could be done when he died he came to Void_

_What was going to happen to him?_

_He wouldn't stay in Void for long. That's impossible. He would go somewhere else, somewhere other than his world, the Shinigami world, Heaven, or Hell._

_If he couldn't go to any of those places, then where else was there to go?_

_Someone else's world._

* * *

'_What the hell?'_ Naruto wondered, feeling a sudden tug from the Shiki Fuujin seal imprinted on his navel. It felt like something was pulling on the essence of the seal itself. It wasn't trying to yank it away from him, or to remove it, more like whatever was doing the tugging was trying to pull itself towards the seal. What was going on?

Uzumaki Naruto, age fifteen, was currently sitting in his room after another failed attempt to save his closest friend, Sasuke, from Orochimaru's clutches. This time they'd had the new member of Team Kakashi, Sai, and their substitute sensei, Yamato, with them. Kakashi had been recovering from the previous fight with Akatsuki, so hadn't come along with Naruto and Sakura.

The jinchuuriki doubled over as pain racked his body, centering around his stomach and his head. The seal felt like it was on fire. He could feel the presence from before scrambling to pull itself towards him. Naruto had to grit his teeth in order to not cry out.

He convulsed as he felt a foreign energy flood his body. He'd become so used to pulling alternatively on his own chakra and the Kyuubi's yoki that he was immediately able to sense that the presence was human. What he couldn't figure out was the irregularity in the energy signature. It felt almost like another being was shadowing the one trying to retain a grasp on his soul. Whatever the second being was, it was foul.

He began to regain the ability to see as his inner balance began to calm down and his world slowed down in its spinning. He surprisingly enough was in mid fall from his bed when he regained awareness of himself, the process of the other soul pulling itself into this world having been so brief that he couldn't even finish falling those few feet before it was over.

'_What just happened?'_ he asked the demon within his mind. Even though he did not particularly like the fox on account of the fact that it was extremely rude to him and was reckless when it came to Naruto's companions, the blonde knew that if anyone would know what had just happened it would be the one and only Kyuubi no Kitsune.

_**'Someone from another dimension apparently got lost and was drawn to the Shiki Fuujin seal. Since you're the only one who was ever branded with it and lived to tell the tale, he ended up in your head.'**_

Comprehending the fox's words, Naruto sunk into his own mind. It was the easiest and best way to communicate with the intruder, after all. Especially if he had no prior experience with 50 story tall demon foxes and speaking through a mental link.

* * *

Light opened his eyes slowly. He felt heavy, as if he hadn't moved in centuries, and yet the gravity pressing down on him was surprisingly light. It felt as if it was at almost half the level of the gravity as it was supposed to be.

Where was he, anyways? This wasn't anyone's house, or the headquarters of the investigation into Kira. It looked more like a sewer than anything else.

His ears picked up on the sound of breathing, and a sense that he didn't know he had told him that he wasn't alone, and whatever was in the room with him wasn't very nice, and probably wouldn't mind killing him.

Focusing all of his will power, Light turned his head and looked at where the sound was coming from. His heart nearly stopped _(for a second time something within him whispered) _when he saw the looming figure of the giant nine tailed demon fox. He tried to scramble backwards, away from that thing that was looking at him like something between a puzzle that needed to be solved and a particularly scrumptious piece of meat, but his body didn't comply. His muscles felt… They didn't feel like anything. They weren't even there. Come to think of it, neither was his body that was neither heavy nor light.

"Don't let her scare you. As long as that seal's in place and you're smart enough to stay on this side of the cage she can't touch you, although she's damn annoying," a voice commented from behind Light. From the sound of it, the speaker was grinning. "If you want to move around just think about what you want to do. This is a mindscape, so therefore there aren't any muscles, gravity, or laws of physics."

Concentrating on what the unknown person, whom he'd failed to sense, had said, Light was able to roll over onto his stomach and push himself up. His mind quickly adjusted to the concept and soon he was able to stand and look at the speaker, making sure to keep the fox within his line of sight.

The boy his eyes feel upon couldn't be any older than fifteen, and had the build of a fighter. His blonde hair defied gravity- much like L's had once done- and stuck up in an array of spikes. His eyes were a startling blue that revealed nothing. Kira, who had for so long pretended to be the kind and considerate Light, could see that the shinning, happy look in his eyes was a fake, painted with a mental paintbrush that was held in an expert hand. Behind the shinning exterior, the shutters to the boy's soul were closed, showing no real emotion.

"Where am I?" Light asked.

The blonde grinned widely. "In my mind. According to the bitchy fox Kyuubi you were lost and somehow managed to be drawn to the Shinigami's seal that's was placed upon me fifteen years ago for the purpose of halting the rampage of the Kyuubi no Kitsune, one of the most powerful demons in existence."

"**The blonde idiot isn't very good at explanations,"** a deep voice growled from the opposite side of Light. He spun around to face the demon lady. **"Let me elaborate. You seem to have somehow managed to block yourself off from going to Heaven, Hell, the Shinigami's world, or returning to your own world, so you were drawn to the faint Shinigami energy signature that still radiates from the seal. You are currently in a world not your own that has a different history and likely has different laws of physics."**

Light nodded, absorbing the information. It made sense.

"Hey, fox, why isn't he in his own body?" the blonde asked the demon fox.

"**Because matter can't be created out of thin air, stupid," **she growled, obviously exasperated at the boy's lack of knowledge. From what Light could see the boy was quite bright, he just didn't have a proper education.

"Okay. Hey, what's your name?" the blonde asked Light. He was used to the damn demon fox calling him stupid, and he'd given up on wasting his breath yelling at her… oh, about a year ago or so. She always out argued him anyways. Hard to argue with a millennia old opponent with a higher IQ than Shikamaru, who also happened to be extremely cunning, sarcastic, perceptive, and creative.

"Yagami Raito. Who're you?" Light replied, using the Japanese pronunciation of his name.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" the blonde announced. Even though he said it as though he took pride in his name, Kira could sense an underlying tone, barely detectable, that suggested that he hated the name with all of his might. It made sense that he'd dislike it. Uzumaki was a name given to orphans without any family to speak of (although he guesses it could be a clan name passed down by an orphan). Why he hated it so much, though, was unknown.

"Is it normal in your world to have a demon in your mind?" Light asked.

Naruto shook his head. "No. I only know of a few others. Those who have demons sealed within them are known as jinchuuriki here, and are generally hated and spat upon. Most of us are dead, though. An organization called the Akatsuki is hunting us in order to remove the demons from us and utilize their power."

Kira mentally snarled. It was people like that that he killed. Those who ruined others lives for the sake of their own gains. Those who couldn't see past their own noses.

"Hey fox!" Naruto continued, his attention shifting.

"**What is it, brat?"** the vixen snarled.

"Is there any way for Raito to be transferred out of my mind and into his own body?" the blonde asked.

"**Theoretically, yes. Such a jutsu exits among us demons, although a pathetic, weakling ningen such as you wouldn't be able to use it. You'd have to make your own version."**

Naruto nodded. He hadn't expected there to be a human jutsu already in existence other than Orochimaru's body transfer jutsu for relocating souls, and he wasn't willing to use Orochimaru's approach. Not only did it kill whoever you were transferring into, it transferred everybody and would probably weaken the seal.

"Alright! You stay here and keep the bitch company, Raito, while I work on the jutsu. It'll only give you a temporary body, but you'll get to stretch your legs," the blonde said, before disappearing from the mindscape. He didn't vanish in a poof of smoke or with a flash or fade out or anything else fancy. He was simply there one second and not there the next.

Annoyed that the boy hadn't given him enough time to even speak before deciding what to do, Kira settled down to study the Kyuubi no Kitsune, curious about its nature. He was fully aware that as he did so the fox settled down also, fixing two unblinking crimson orbs upon this new puzzle, this stranger that called himself Yagami Light, a human in appearance in smell, but something else, something that she couldn't quite put her paw on, in energy signature. She hadn't seen such an interesting puzzle since Naruto had stumbled into her domain three years ago, and nothing of the sort for millennia before.

* * *

Naruto opened his eyes in the outside world. Not even a second had passed since he entered his mind. It had always been that way. It was almost as if the dimension existed outside of time when he visited it, speeding back up to match his world when he exited.

Looking around briefly, he grabbed a random T-shirt and his orange and black jacket and threw them on. He had to search a bit more to find a pair of orange and black pants, but find them he did. Sensing rather than hearing Light's disapproval of his fashion sense Naruto sent a mental note saying that orange and black were his two favorite colors, and if he didn't wear them than the people around him would think it strange. Having been disguising his identity as Kira for so long Light new the value in keeping to the image that people built up about you, and quieted down.

Grabbing his frog wallet Naruto ran out the door. He was planning on heading straight to one of the unused training fields to start working on his new jutsu, but was interrupted by Sakura.

"Naruto! Where do you think you're going? Kakashi-sensei asked us to meet him in his hospital room today! Baka, I can't believe you forgot!" she didn't even let Naruto get a word in edgewise, and started dragging him towards a large white building which Light assumed was the hospital.

"Gomen nasai, Sakura-chan!" Naruto said, letting himself be dragged along. Light could tell that the Kyuubi thought that Sakura was a useless, weak, airheaded, unnecessarily violent bitch. Kira could also sense that Naruto didn't like Sakura nearly as much as he pretended to. Yah, sure, he felt something like a sibling's bond to her, but he thought that she needed to open her eyes and grow up. Kira agreed. The girl was self centered and thought the world was all about her. She was pretty much this world's version of Misa.

"It doesn't matter," she said. "Kakashi-sensei's room is this way."

She dragged him through the halls towards where their teacher was staying. Light was mildly surprised by the number of bandages covering the shinobi's body. He had by now deduced that they were all fighters of some sort, probably a variant of his world's ninja.

"Yo," the masked shinobi said, looking up from the hentai manga he was reading. Light could see the name 'Iccha Iccha Paradise' through Naruto's eyes. He heard the fox grumble something about how all perverts who were so open about it should die. He noticed that she said nothing about closet perverts. A black haired boy wearing a shirt that exposed his stomach and carrying a scroll on his back was already there.

"What did you want to talk to us about, Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked, badly faking being sweet and courteous.

"I just wanted to know what happened in the mission," the white haired jounin commented off handedly. Both Sakura and Naruto tensed. All of Naruto's current tenants could sense that Naruto wanted to do more than tense. He wasn't just angry about how Sasuke had acted, he was furious. They were supposed to have been friends, and yet the bastard had tossed him aside as if he was nothing more than a disposable toy in the hands of a spoiled brat. In reality, that's what he'd been. Sasuke had been Naruto's only friend, and though he wouldn't admit it Naruto would've done anything (and still would) is it meant that the raven would continue to like him.

'_If he treated you so harshly then why still go after him? Why try to rescue himself from the hole he dug himself into if all he's going to do is try to kill you again and head straight back into the pit?' _Light asked the blonde, having quickly grasped the concept of speaking through a mental link.

Naruto had no answer for him.

Naruto's voice was a dull monotone as he explained the events in as plain of details as possible, not mentioning anything like emotions or what someone looked like, the shining covering over his emotion removed, leaving an almost impenetrable concrete wall behind. His eyes were dead, reflecting no light whatsoever. Kakashi didn't fail to notice the lack of animation in the blonde when reporting about Sasuke. Sakura was to busy wallowing in her own woes and staring out the window to notice anything amiss.

Naruto had left out the part where Sasuke entered his mind on purpose. He felt that the raven wouldn't want it to get out that his clan had any connections with the Kyuubi, and nobody other than him and his tenants knew that he could speak to the fox.

Kakashi was concerned for his blonde student, of course, but he didn't dwell to much on it. He just assumed that the lack of emotion was a mask to cover sadness and humiliation, rather than the lack of the normal mask that it actually was. He himself had once worn one. He wasn't bothered by the fact that Sakura hadn't noticed how unemotional her own teammate was at the moment. She herself was under great stress and didn't think of Naruto as the living machine type. Humans only tend to hear and see what they expect to be there, after all.

"That isn't the only reason you called us, huh Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto asked, his fool's mask back in place. His eyes were sparkling, and he was wearing a fox grin to match. Sakura smiled, relieved that her teammate could be so cheerful no matter how much he went through. If only she knew…

"No, it isn't. I've also come up with a new training schedule for Naruto," he said.

At that moment the door to the room slid open, and Team 10 all piled inside, Asuma right behind them. The chain smoking jounin walked up to Kakashi's bed. "Hey, my team was wondering if you three, Sakura, Naruto, and Sai, would go to the barbeque restaurant with them. They haven't had a chance to get acquainted with Sai yet. I also need to talk to Kakashi alone."

"Alright then," Kakashi drawled, "You three go ahead and go with Asuma's team. I'll talk with Asuma."

"But Kakashi-sensei! What about the training technique you were going to tell me about?" Naruto whined. Light could sense his eagerness to learn more, to grow more powerful. It almost bordered on fanaticism.

"I'll tell you later," Kakashi said, waving his hand in dismissal. Naruto 'humph'ed and followed his friends out.

"What training technique was Naruto talking about, Kakashi?" Asuma asked.

"He has a huge chakra reserve, so I was planning on having him speed up his progress by using Taiju Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. I'm also going to teach him elemental manipulation…"

* * *

"Hey, what's your name again? I'm Ino!" the blonde kunoichi asked/exclaimed.

"I'm Sai. It's nice to meet you…" at this point Sai paused for a second, remembering his conversation with Sakura earlier. _'Girl's don't seem to like it when you tell them the truth about how they look, so if I say the exact opposite of what I think about her she should be pleased,' _he thought. Acting on his thoughts he finished his sentence with, "Ms. Beautiful."

Ino was immediately impressed by how polite her ex-best-friend's new teammate was, and decided that he had nice tastes. Sakura, meanwhile, was fuming, while Naruto was trying hard not to laugh, although he didn't show it.

"Hey, isn't that they guy that attacked us earlier?" Shikamaru asked.

Sai turned to him and replied, "I was merely testing the abilities of my new teammate, is all, although I wasn't much impressed with the dickless wonder over here."

Four of his listeners were stunned. Light was merely disgusted at the boy's lack of tact and social skills. Naruto, though, was furious. _'Just you wait,'_ he thought. _'Next time I get a chance to get away with it I'm going to break you in half!'_ In the outside world he shouted some insult or another at Sai and lunged at him. Naruto was held back by Sakura and Shikamaru, though, and couldn't rearrange Sai's face quite to his liking.

"Let me go!" Naruto shouted. "I'm gonna punch his lights out!"

"Naruto, until you calm down enough that you won't inadvertently kill your teammate, I can't release you," Shikamaru said, gritting his teeth as he fought to keep a hold of the struggling blonde. Since when had Naruto been that strong?

Naruto stopped struggling, falling limp in Shikamaru and Sakura's hands. He stared at the floor, his fists and teeth clenched. "Sai _is not _my teammate," he growled. "Merely a comrade that I currently happen to be working with." Before his stunned audience could say anything in reply he had shaken off Sakura and Shikamaru's hands and bolted, opting to weave through alleyways instead of the more obvious route of jumping over rooftops.

"Gomen nasai," Sai said suddenly, standing up. "But I have somewhere I need to be." He then ran off over the rooftops in the opposite direction Naruto had gone.

Choji looked around the now surprisingly quiet booth. No one was in a mood to speak after Naruto's sudden shift in personality and his and Sai's abrupt departures. Sakura murmured a quiet 'see you later' before shuffling off in the direction of her home, looking forlorn.

"What's up with those two?" Ino asked. "Why can't they just get over Sasuke?" She herself had never figured out why the both of them continued to pursue their teammate to such lengths, when he obviously didn't want to be saved. She'd given up on Sasuke a long time ago, even before she became a ninja, when she realized that he was nothing more than a spoiled brat.

After her realization about Sasuke, Ino had tried to get back on Sakura's good side. She wanted her first and only real friend back. The bubblegum haired kunoichi had been blind to her attempts to make amends, and when she recognized the friendship offers she thought that Ino was simply trying to win Sasuke for herself. It had almost broken Ino's heart in two, being rejected by her closest and only friend like that.

She was worried for Sakura. If the girl kept going after Sasuke she was likely to be killed or, if not that, to have her heart permanently broken when she realized that the object of her long time obsession wasn't all that she's made him out to be.

'_Sakura…'_ she thought.

* * *

'_Why do you care so much for him?'_ Light asked Naruto. By the boy's reactions to everything it was obvious that he cared for him on a deeper level than just friendship. _'Why go so far?'_

Naruto was silent, staring at the wall of his dingy little apartment. Just when the silence had stretched for so long that Light believed that Naruto would never answer him, the blonde replied, _'Because… Because he's the first person that ever _

_really stood up for me and he, the one that I'd always admired and envied, acknowledged my strength and said I was his closest friend.'_

As he said this, Naruto thought of Sasuke risking his life, something he'd clung to at the time, to save Naruto from Haku, of Sasuke saying that not only did he want to fight Lee and Gaara and Neji, the strongest of the genin there, but that he also wanted to fight Naruto, of Sasuke being the first to offer to share his lunch with Naruto during the bell test, of Sasuke challenging him when they learned tree climbing, and then the two of them reaching the top together… And finally, Sasuke telling him that he was Sasuke's closest friend, and that, because of that, he must slay him.

It had remained a mystery at first why Sasuke desired to kill him, but during his training trip with Jiraiya, he'd blackmailed the Kyuubi for the information. She'd been hesitant to tell him, knowing what his reaction would be. When he'd found out that Sasuke needed to kill him in order to gain power to kill his brother, Naruto had actually felt relieved. He had sincerely thought that Sasuke had only tried to kill him because he believed that Naruto was a monster that needed to be slain. In reality, Naruto had simply stood in his way on his path to power. So, when they met back up, Naruto had stood there and let Sasuke drive his sword towards Naruto's spine, knowing that it would end in his death.

Light wondered if Naruto was going to continue. The blonde had been silent for another minute, lost in his thoughts.

'_Hokage-jiji also stood up for me a bit, but because of his position the most he could do was occasionally give me guards during my birthday and pass a law forbidding people to talk about my status as a jinchuuriki._

' _Iruka-sensei was really nice to me, but he was never confident in my abilities. He didn't seem to think that I could take care of myself, despite the fact that I lived on the streets for several years before I could get an apartment. _

'_Kakashi-sensei never gave a damn about me until Sasuke left. _

'_Ero-sennin had little confidence in my abilities and wouldn't bother taking the time to really train me. He would tell me the basics behind a jutsu and then disappear to go peep at the women's onsen. _

'_Sakura-chan always thought I was a weak idiot until Sasuke left, and even now she doesn't have confidence in my abilities. _

'_Hinata-chan is the only person that completely believed in me, was nice, and stood up for me, but because of the Hyuuga clan and the fact that they all have sticks up their asses and won't allow their heiress to associate with the demon boy more than absolutely necessary gets in the way of me socializing with her, and she's really shy also, though you can't blame her,'_ Naruto finally continued.

'_Sasuke was also one of the three people I was ever able to really relate with. The other two were Gaara, a former jinchuuriki, and Haku, who was treated like a jinchuuriki because of his special abilities. Haku died as a result of something I did, though, and I failed to protect Gaara so he got his demon removed from him and actually was dead for a bit, before Chiyo-baachan gave up her own life to revive him.'_

Light looked at Naruto with understanding in his eyes. He hadn't been able to relate to anyone other than L, and when L died, even though the detective threatened his existence and he had been the one to kill him, it felt as though some part of him had died. It was understandable to cling to such a connection, especially when you'd already lost it once. Light didn't know anything of what Naruto had been through, and as a respected genius he couldn't even begin to guess, but he still tried to protect those who were stepped on and discriminated against. He didn't need to be able to walk in someone's shoes in order to help them, after all.

'_I'm sorry if I awoke bad memories, Naruto. People who inflict such pain on others make me sick. Why did Sasuke betray you? Or do you not want to talk about it?'_ Light asked.

Naruto closed his eyes and turned his head so that he was facing the ground, shadows hiding his features.

'_His older brother killed their entire clan when Sasuke was a kid. Orochimaru, a big bad guy, decided to take advantage of that to get Sasuke under his control by playing on Sasuke's desire for power. He put a curse seal on Sasuke that brought out the worst in him and twisted his mind. It didn't help that Itachi, his brother, showed back up, hunting me because he was with the Akatsuki. Sasuke was put under too much pressure and snapped. It was my fault, too. I didn't see what was happening to him and just inadvertently made things worse. It isn't his fault, or even Itachi's that he left, it's Orochimaru's.'_

Kira mentally nodded. This Orochimaru sounded like the worst kind of criminal, the kind that he would love to write down into his notebook. _'Why do you say it isn't even Itachi's fault?'_

Naruto shrugged. _'Don't really know. Instinct, I guess. It's just that there always seemed to be something off about the Uchiha clan. All the street kids were deathly afraid of them, and not just because many of the Uchiha were police, or the fact that they didn't like street kids. You'd see it among the animals, too. Nobody went within a mile of the place if they could help it. Itachi killing them might have been justified. I don't want to judge him on it until I know the truth.'_

Kira nodded. It made sense. There was no Kira in this world to pass judgment on criminals, and the legal system was really if you went allied with someone you were a criminal, not if you did something bad.

Naruto looked up from the fetal position he'd managed to curl into. He'd just now noticed the fact that all of the light had faded, plunging the room into darkness. He felt an immense heaviness come over him as his eyelids involuntarily closed and he drifted off into a restless sleep full of nameless and faceless shades.

* * *

**Translations:**

**Jinchuuriki: literally means 'power of human sacrifice'. Someone that has a demon(or occasionally a dragon in this story) sealed within them**

**Gomen nasai: very sorry**

**I hope that I don't have any of the characters being OOC. If I do please tell me and I'll correct it.**

**Just curious, what side pairings would you guys like? I'm not big on romance, so it's not going to be much, but if a pairing that I like is suggested often I might put in a few scenes with them. If it's suggested a couple of times I'll probably hint at it, or have a one-sided pairing. If nobody suggests anything side pairings, one sided pairings, and hinted at pairings will be the ones I favor over all the others. If someone suggests it once, and I really like it, I'll include it. For pairings that I really, really like I'll have them go more in depth in omakes. **

**Please review! Reviews get me motivated to write faster. I'm serious. The more reviews my chapters have the faster the buttons on the keyboard go 'clickclickclick'. It's easy to review, too! Just click that little blue button and type a handful of words. Constructive criticism is coveted. Don't be afraid to insult me in your review, as long as you're pointing out a mistake OTHER than the pairing. Feel free to flame! Adds to my review count. :P**

**Ja ne!**

**Posted: 9/5/07 (American date), or the fifth of September, 2007**

**Editted:**


	2. Labyrinth of the Mind

**Here's the second chapter of Deadly Fun!**

**Warning: Yaoi. ItaNaru, LxLight (or LightxL). Yuri, yaoi, and possibly het side pairings. Possibly (read as definitely) weird side pairings. don't like don't read.**

**Ty to all of you lovely reviewers! This is the first time I've eva gotten 27 reviews for the first chapter! YOU PEOPLE ROCK!!**

**Note: Since Fallen-Angel-Helena was the only one (as far as I can tell) that voted for a side pairing, there will be SasorixDeidara! And so that that pairing's actually possible, I'm going to make it so that Sasori doesn't die! And I really like it, too! Their cute together! And it works for the story…**

**Oh, yeah, I was wondering: can I put InoxSakura in here as a barely covered side pairing? Or no? Or should I put it in here, but have it one sided? Or should I push Sakura off a cliff, eliminating her from the pairing consideration? (authoress- last one! pick the last option!)**

**If anyone has any preference for side pairings, please say so in your review. I will honor all requests, at the least with a hint or, if enough people want the same pairing or I want the pairing, I'll actually include it. If it's a pairing I hate I might ignore it. If only one person wants it and it's weird but I like it or I think it'll help me get past writer's block I'll still include it.**

**While we're on the topic of voting: should this be LxLight (L is seme Light is uke) or LightxL (Light is seme L is uke) or LxLightxL (no set role for seme or uke). or does it really even matter? (this isn't going to get really graphic unless the readers command it to be so)**

**L will make an appearance in this fic outside of Light's thoughts. No need to worry, fangirls! and anybody that's just curious**

**Disclaimer: Me no own Naruto. that privilege falls to Itachi. Me no own Death Note either (wish I owned a death note though... insert evil laughter)**

**Gomen nasai for taking so long to update! I had major writer's block, and actually rewrote this chapter several times... me being my perfectionist self. I **

**was tempted to rewrite it again, but decided not to do so and to actually update. I'm still having writer's block, though.**

**Oh! Added thing as of this edit! If anyone reviews every chapter then I'll either dedicate a chappie or a one-shot to them! (I'm saying review at the least chappies one through five, of course, and if you wanna one-shot how specific you can be in your request depends on how many chappies total you review. If more than five chappies are posted, you have to review EVERY one to get this!)**

**Yup! My way of bribing you guys into reviewing! Hehe**

**And everyone who reviews STILL gets a cookie! (and everyone who flames STILL gets a burnt cookie!) **

**People who get cookies from reviewing last chappie (takes a deep breath): EmpyrealFantasy, rccompton, OrochiGreel (anonymous), Lady My, psychoditz, Inumaru12, DarkRavie, TheRavenQuoth, Morgif, sydneydallas, DeathNoteMaker, Koneko-ichigO, RaitenKitsune, henriette, Lady Renyel of Arella, RikkaZcurser, rpln, LovelessFan123, KawaiiKoneko89, Azrael (anonymous), no one in particular (anonymous), Dark Mican, Kuroy, PirateCaptainBo, raziel44, Kouhiofdoragons, RuByMoOn17, Pain au Chocolat, ddd (anonymous), and Phaenilix!! Thank you guys SOSOSOSOSOSOSOSOSO much! You guys make my day!**

**Rated M for later chapters**

**I've mildly edited this, btw. I always do this whenever I pick a story up after a hiatus. It helps me get over writer's block and get in the writing mood. Luckily for me this was my best written story (imo), so there's no heavy editing that needed to be done.**

**Key:**

"Blah"-** regular speech**

Blah- **regular text/ emphasis within a flashback or dream or thoughts**

'_Blah'_-** thoughts**

_Blah-_** dream text/ emphasis on a word or statement/ flashback text**

"_Blah"-_** dream speech**

"**Blah"- demon form/ dragon (or just something really really big) speech**

'_**Blah'-**_** demon form/ dragon (or just something really really big) thoughts**

"_**Blah"**_**- demon form/ dragon (or just something really really big) speech within a dream/ flashback**

'_Blah'_-** speech over a communication device of some sort.**

"Blah"**- speech in a language other than whichever one the shinobi normally speak in (Japanese or English, or some other language) (language spoken in tends to be demonic, Universal, or some other language.)**

**(Blah)****- Mid-Chapter Author's Notes**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Naruto ran towards the training ground he was wont to use when he felt like being alone. It had been two days since Light had arrived in his world, and the blonde had yet to be provided with some time alone. It was damn annoying!

"Hey! Naruto!" the voice of Kakashi rang out from behind him. Naruto cursed under his breath before plastering on his happy mask and turning around to face his sensei.

"Hey! Kakashi-sensei!" he called out, his own voice sounding childish and irritating to his ears. This was seriously beginning to grate on his nerves. "Are you going to show me that uber cool technique now?"

Baka. Uzumaki Naruto was the world's biggest moron. He hated it. Still, he smiled and acted like the oblivious dobe everyone thought he was. What fools. Could they not tell that he acted? Did they really think that a jinchuuriki, no matter where he was raised, could be so stupid and live? Could live how he had and be so innocent?

Of course, not all were fooled utterly by his mask. But even the ones that thought there was something more were dead wrong. They thought he was the demon, an idiot that was hiding itself waiting for them to drop their guards. They were the most foolish of them all. He was not the fox demon sealed within his body. He was something else entirely. If only they knew their true peril, they would never have risked letting the _jinchuuriki _of the demon live. For each and every jinchuuriki holds within them the potential to be more powerful than their demon, more ruthless, more intelligent, and far more _deadly._ They were all fools to assume he was a mere demon.

That did not matter, now. Now what mattered was that Kakashi was expecting him to actually bother learning an overpowered version of a technique that could already kill most enemies. Really, if Naruto ever came across an enemy the Rasengan couldn't blow to bits, couldn't he just fry the idiot using the Kyuubi's yoki? No, that would be 'morally incorrect'. Please. It was no different from a bloodline. He'd been born with the demon, after all. Kakashi was a hypocrite, saying he shouldn't use a power not his own. Didn't Kakashi use a kekkei genkai that he hadn't been born with, and had originally belonged to someone else?

Still, he had to resign himself to listening to his so-called sensei. 'Naruto' would be overjoyed to learn a blatantly overpowered technique, no matter how utterly useless or even counterproductive it was. So he said it was the coolest idea ever and subjected himself to this new form of torture. At the least, he learned a new training technique, although he'd already known the whole elemental affinity thing. Wasn't it kind of obvious that there were elemental attacks? Of course, Naruto was an idiot that wouldn't have realized this had someone not pointed it out to him. Pathetic.

It took no time at all to master splitting the leaf in half with wind chakra. What was the point of this, again? It would be so much faster to learn this if he used the wind half of the fox's yoki to align his own chakra. Then again, there was the whole issue of the fact that his 'sensei' said that wasn't a good idea.

Since when had Kakashi ever been his sensei, anyways? He knew that Kakashi had been Sasuke's private trainer, and had been Sakura's sensei to some slight extent, but he was never Naruto's sensei. If Naruto hadn't happened to be standing there whenever Kakashi explained something, he would never have learned anything. Don't forget that when the chunin exams came around Kakashi ditched him with the first person he could bribe and/or blackmail into tolerating Naruto, not even bothering to check whether or not the guy hated Naruto for being a jinchuuriki. Moron.

It took all of a day to finish. When Kakashi and Yamato had fallen asleep, Naruto took the opportunity to slip away. Neither the current ANBU nor the ex-ANBU turned jounin noticed a thing. After all, Naruto had learned how to sneak out to train while traveling with Jiraiya. The perverted idiot had also prohibited him from using the power he was born with.

Within no time, he had arrived at a training ground outside the outskirts of Konoha. He'd left several shadow clones lying around to throw off anyone that might wish to find him, including one back at the training ground where he'd learned how to cut down on training time using shadow clones.

Having already decided that the first thing to do would be to create a durable body for Light to exist in, Naruto summoned 9,999 clones, making for a total of ten thousand Narutos. If he'd still be training with Kakashi he wouldn't have been able to do this, but now he could use as much yoki as he wanted provided nobody noticed the high output of demon energy.

All ten thousand Narutos set to work practicing the blood clone technique. It was simple, really. He'd used a form of it when he fought Orochimaru in his four-tailed form. A single drop of blood was combined with a high amount of yoki and a bit of chakra to provide stabilization, and then the healing properties of the yoki was used to cause every cell in that single drop of blood to multiply a thousand fold. What was formed could be used as a shield, a weapon, an extremely deadly poison if it got into the system of an enemy, and it could be used as an almost indestructible clone that simulated life perfectly. The yoki could also cause the special form of blood to set fire to anything it came into contact with. Also the substance, despite being nigh impossible to penetrate, was as fluid as water and could cut like wind.

With his preexisting experience with blood techniques, and the high number of clones combined with the ease with which he was able to use yoki when compared to the difficulty of harnessing chakra, he was able to finish the jutsu in two hours. Amazing how easy something could be when he didn't have hypocritical jounin and ANBU breathing down his neck.

Sighing, he started to work on combing the kitsune version of the henge no jutsu with the blood clone. This was getting repetitive.

* * *

Light wandered the halls on Naruto's mind, looking about uneasily. This place was seriously creeping him out. The scariest place he'd found so far had actually been the 'Liar's Palace', located two floors above the main area of the seal. It was the place in Naruto's mind in which his mask was represented. Light knew that he himself had a Liar's Palace, but he doubted it was as eerie as Naruto's.

The place was designed to look like some parody of a child's dreamland, something that many adults would think a child would be overjoyed to be in, but that many children would be terrified of. It was full of sickeningly bright colors and falsely joyful music. Light wouldn't have been surprised to find a body or something of the sort hidden behind a multicolored wall, or in a bright stall or shop.

The creepiest part of it all wasn't the 'evil monster lulling you into a false sense of security so that it could gobble you up' type sense that the place conveyed, but instead the items within the buildings. Mannequins and masks. So eerily life like, they looked as if they were about to start moving. Light had had a hard time shaking the feeling of millions of pairs of painted eyes watching his every move, waiting for the best moment to pounce and then tear him limb from limb.

He'd felt relieved when he found a staircase leading down into Naruto's actual mind. Not that there was much to be found. The place was actually weird enough to make him want to return to the Liar's Palace. Naruto's mind was one big optical illusion combined with a madhouse theme and a huge labyrinth. Great.

Looking at the scene in front of him, Light sighed. Naruto hadn't been joking when he said that this place didn't follow the laws of physics. There was no way in hell _that _was possible in the real world. Then again, what was displayed in front of Light's eyes might actually be possible in Naruto's world. From his and the Kyuubi's descriptions Naruto's world didn't technically have laws of physics either. The motto seemed to be 'if you try enough times it _will _happen'. Even if not a single variable ever changed the result would be different each time you tried something. Or something that worked the last time you tried it wouldn't work in the exact same conditions.

One example of how weird Naruto's world was: the phenomenon of the humans that existed there being able to breathe fire. When Light had asked how that was possible, he'd been told that one simply used fire aligned chakra or yoki. When he asked how to do that, he was told to set his life force on fire. When he asked how to do that the Kyuubi told him to just think very hot thoughts (no, not _that_ kind of hot!). And to try not to burn his esophagus. Which raised the question of how it was possible to hold fire in one's throat, mouth, and wherever else it was stored and not get burned. The Kyuubi told him to shut up and that he was annoying her. Naruto, meanwhile, was laughing his ass off.

Getting annoyed at the randomness of Naruto's main mind area, and the fact that anything that might have told him something was locked up behind various doors, Light decided to return to the level that housed the seal. Jumping across the free-floating squares of a chessboard, he added not getting killed on his to-do list. The square he'd just left had turned over abruptly, revealing a white side to contrast with the black that had been shown. The one behind it then randomly lit up with crackling lighting. Looking around, that was happening in other places, too.

Wonderful. Just fucking wonderful. Before Light had the time to contemplate how absolutely wonderful his current situation was, though, he felt the platform shift under his feet. Leaping across the gap to another moving platform, Light barley avoided being dumped into the bottomless pit below the floating squares. Did he mention how un-fucking-believably wonderful this whole thing was?

Standing up, Light looked around. The platform he was on had risen up above the one he'd left, and was now descending. Other platforms moved in a set pattern, also. Some moved from side to side, others up and down, some moved in circles or other figures, while yet other made three-dimensional shapes. There were some that stayed in one spot, periodically flipping over either to show a side of another color or to switch from being deadly to being benign. The flipping and lightning followed a set rhythm, also, and there was always warning before it happened.

Hearing a buzz from the platform he was standing on, Light was quick to vacate it in favor of one that had just stopped being deadly to stand upon. Just in time, too. The place where he'd been standing was filled with thousands of volts of electricity in a matter of seconds.

Light quickly got the hang of navigating the platforms, his destination the passageway on the other side of the room, which he hoped would lead to a way into the lower levels of Naruto's mind. It was actually a lot like many video games. The goal was simple: make it across the gap without dying. The only problem was Light didn't have any extra lives with which to puzzle out any oddities or to make mistakes with.

Light glanced around the passageway stretching out in front of him when he managed to reach the doorway. Unlike the rest of this level of Naruto's mind, it 

lacked the laws of physics defying landscape that would take a genius to not get killed in. The corridor more closely resembled a medieval dungeon passageway, flickering torches lining a dark, evil feeling hall made of some ancient stone.

Of course, the seal main resembled a corridor much like this one, except the light radiated from some unnamable source rather than torches and the bottom was coated with water. And this passageway sloped upwards, which was in the opposite direction of where he wanted to go.

Light knew that appearances could be deceiving, though, and the corridor might come to a staircase, start sloping down, or only appear to be sloping up at the moment. That could also be taken to mean that this had nothing to do with the level that housed the seal, and was instead something much more sinister and one of those things both the Kyuubi and Naruto had warned him to avoid lest he die or go insane.

_(As if you haven't already gone off the deep end,)_ that annoying voice whispered from the back of his head. Why couldn't the damn thing just shut up? All it ever did was criticize him or point out things he didn't want pointed out. If it didn't have anything nice to say, it shouldn't say anything at all.

Although the annoying voice was much better and much more polite than the voice that would not shut up about whether or not and how certain people should die. Even though its ideas for how to kill someone were quite fascinating, _(He did NOT just think that) _it was very rude, and quite psychotic.

Great. Now he was assigning personalities to the voices in his head. Could this day get any better?

While his mind was on the mentality track, he had one of those thoughts that lead to a thought that lead to a thought, and so on and so forth, until he began contemplating the differences between his thought patterns now and let's say… a few days before he died. Also the thought patterns from when he hadn't had his memories and before he'd gotten the Death Note to post discovery of the reality of the Death Note and after he regained his memories.

It was actually interesting how he currently was thinking the same as he recalled thinking when he hadn't known of the Death Note's existence, even though he had all of his memories. The personality that he'd shown as Kira had been fading over the past few days it seemed, leaving behind his regular personality. Which was pretty much the same as Kira's minus the god complex.

Broken out of his thoughts by the sound of stone slamming against stone, Light looked in the direction of the source of the disturbance. Shit. Not good.

His only open option of retreat should the foreboding feeling that had settled within his chest when he entered the corridor prove to be valid was now blocked off. He couldn't return to the platforms. The only way was forward. Light was mentally cursing the decision that had lead to him choosing to dare crossing the cavernous room that housed the moving squares.

His current unease was due to the sound that his ears were just barely picking up on. Light wasn't even sure if he was actually hearing anything, or if his mind was conjuring up sounds because of the lack of normalcy surrounding the situation.

There it was again. The faint, elusive sound of chains rattling. As if the skeletal remains of the prisoners that had been kept in the dark confines of some ancient underground dungeon were rising from the grave to seek their revenge. Or to eat the tasty scrap of defenseless meat that had wandered into their domain.

Light heard a scraping sound behind him, as if something unimaginably heavy were being dragged across the floor. Glancing behind him, Light's eyes widened almost imperceptibly at the sight that greeted him. The dim, flicker glow of the torches just barely illuminated the crawling progress of the stone wall that had just recently blocked off his only means of escape. Now it was inching towards him, intent on herding Light to whatever fate waited him that the end of this corridor.

Staring transfixed at the moving wall, Light realized something. Despite being inhibited by four surfaces pressing against it and undoubtedly creating an enormous amount of friction the wall wasn't slowing down or struggling to move forward at all. Instead it was speeding up.

Realizing that it wouldn't be a good to idea to remain in the path of the rapidly approaching wall, Light turned around and started to run. Really, where the hell had his intelligence gone? Probably Kira was smarter than Light. Even though he technically was Kira that still annoyed the hell out of Light. He did _not_ need the Death Note to be smart!

Who was he trying to prove this too? Never mind. The wall was gaining speed, and the hallway never seemed to end or turn or have a branch off. Annoying.

Remembering what Naruto had said about the possibilities of this place being endless as long as it could be imagined, Light had no doubt in his mind that this corridor was in fact endless. He also had a very good idea if what Naruto said was correct, and a very bad idea if it wasn't.

Slowing down slightly, Light focused his mind. He imagined himself suddenly gaining more strength than the Hulk had. Nothing seemed to happen at first, but then just as suddenly as he had imagined it he felt all of his muscles bulge. Wasting no time Light punched the wall next to him, imagining it crumbling to reveal a side passage.

It worked. Light entered the small side passage just a split second before the stone wall that had been following him rushed by. It had apparently gained for mass than it had had at first, because enough stone stayed behind to completely block off the passageway. Since Naruto had also said that the ability to affect things in someone else's mindscape was limited, Light decided to not take his chances with trying to break through the wall.

Even though there weren't any torches, overhead lights, or the strange glow that characterized the seal area here, Light could still see fairly well due to a sickly glow coming from the far end of the hallway.

Light walked slowly towards the light, knowing it was most likely hazardous. He'd never seen this part of Naruto's mind before, or anything like it. Unlike the other areas, which were either composed of metal, wood, stone, or occasionally glass, the walls, floor, and ceiling of this place were made of what look like Styrofoam. Weird choice of building material, to say the least.

Light new that he must be in a new area of Naruto's mind, because the building material followed a specific theme for each level, but according to both Kyuubi and Naruto there were only three levels of Naruto's mind, the seal, the Liar's Palace, and the main area of his mind. Any floors under that made up the Kyuubi's mindscape, and inaccessible to anyone other than the Kyuubi unless they were absolute masters at hacking into other people's thought processes.

This was getting stranger by the second. There was no way in hell he was in the Kyuubi's mind, since he'd have to pass through the gate and the seal level itself to get there, and also go through several 'locked doors' as Kyuubi referred to them. There was the possibility that this was his own mind, but Light severely doubted it.

There were several possibilities as to what this may be. Light stopped walking as he contemplated his options, not wanting to walk into danger unawares. The Kyuubi would have no reason to lie to him about a level of Naruto's mind, and couldn't venture outside of the seal anyways, so she would have no way of discovering anything without Naruto immediately knowing about it. That meant that the possibilities of Kyuubi lying to hide the information from either Light or Naruto were out.

The other three possibilities were that this was a level that neither demon nor jinchuuriki knew about, Naruto knew of this level and didn't want anyone to find it, or this was a part of Light's mind. The latter and the former were the least likely of the three, but Light didn't want to jump to conclusions. That type of thinking could… no, _would _get him killed.

Pondering wasn't going to help him anymore at this point. Light started forwards once again, prepared for anything. If this place was indeed in Naruto mind, and if it was so secret that either nobody had found it before now or Naruto felt it was necessary to hide its presence, then there was no telling what sort of perils it may hide.

Light reached the end of the hallway almost immediately, as if his new resolve to find out what lay in waiting for him made the journey shorted, or his speed greater. Whatever the cause, Light felt as if he would soon regret choosing to explore as he stepped through the blindingly bright doorway.

* * *

Kakuzu scowled at the prone form of his fellow Akatsuki member. Damn them! He wasn't a fucking engineer or whatever! He wasn't even a god damned doctor, and yet _they_ seemed to think he was overjoyed to fix all of their dumb ass little booboos!

That aside, orders were orders. He'd been told to fix Sasori after the puppet master had gotten himself blown to bits, so he had better do that or else! How had Sasori even survived getting his heart pierced, anyways?

Hearing footsteps behind him, Kakuzu scowled. Who dared interrupt his work?

"What the hell do you want?" he snarled at the blonde that now stood in the doorway. The idiot would not stop interrupting him! Why the hell did he even care if his partner died or not, anyways?

"How's it goin', un?" Deidara asked, ignoring Kakuzu's lack of social skills. Or patience. Or tolerance for other living beings. He'd been in and out of the infirmary so often lately that he was used to Kakuzu's attitude.

"I fucking told you a goddamned hour ago! He shouldn't even be fucking alive, and repairing a fucking _puppet_ is not my area of expertise. Him and his shitty ideas for how to preserve his goddamned life are getting in my way! Why the hell can't I just let him fucking die, anyways?" Kakuzu snarled. Deidara and his goddamned stupid concern for his partner was getting on Kakuzu's nerves, goddamn it!

Deidara's eyes narrowed. "Don't. You. _Dare._ Insult Sasori-danna," he spat, glaring daggers at Kakuzu. The ancient missing-nin fought the urge to shrink away from the crazed blonde and beg his forgiveness. The guy was making the most stuck up of Uchihas look like a bunch of bunnies! "If he dies," Deidara continued, his tone colder than should be possible, "I will hunt you down and blow you into smithereens so small that there will be nothing left for the hunter-nins to find."

His threat delivered, Deidara turned on his heel and prowled out of the room, his body posture warning off any others he met on the way back to his room to stay the hell out of his way. Kakuzu scowled after he left. Why in all the hells had he been scared of that fucking blonde? Still, it was best not to aggravate him. For all he knew the blonde could have some kind of massive kamikaze bomb hidden somewhere. The guy was crazy enough to use it, too.

Kakazu turned back to his work. Even though he had no clue how to put the puppet parts back together, the biological parts he should be able to manage. As long as he didn't accidentally interrupt the chakra flow maintaining Sasori's life at this point. When the heart, which had been regulating the chakra flow, had been destroyed, Sasori's brain had been left to fend for itself. This would be a nightmare to fix.

* * *

Deidara slammed the door to his room behind him, the sound of wood crashing into stone not doing anything to alleviate his rage. Why the hell was he this upset! He should feel nothing, nothing! He shouldn't care that Sasori was hanging onto life by a thread! At the most, it was the loss of a useful coworker!

'_If that was it, then why was I so terrified when I saw him laying there in a puddle of blood?' _that traitorous little voice whispered. No! He shouldn't even be thinking about it! He _shouldn't even care_.

But he did. He cared, and he didn't want Sasori to die. And he hated that fact, that he was so weak, that he could be made so emotional by something as simple as the threat of another's death. Why wasn't it as easy to imagine Sasori dying as it was to imagine millions of innocents dying?

The puppeteer was so god damned annoying, Deidara should be happy that he was gone, or soon would be anyways. Sasori was so infuriating, with his rigid set of rules to abide by and his immovable views. He was so unshakable, so… so _unchangeable_, that it pissed Deidara off!

Sasori was everything Deidara wasn't. Deidara had never had a stable moment in his life. Sasori was the definition of stable. Deidara moved quickly, constantly changing, having a new favorite fashion style or food or whatever every week or two. The only thing that never changed was his fascination with explosions, and even then, the type of explosion that he preferred changed. Sasori was almost immobile, moving slowly and surely. He hadn't changed since the day he entered Akatsuki, not even aging. If anything at all changed about him, Deidara wasn't aware of it. Deidara could disappear at anytime, just like one of his bombs. The impression he made on the world would be monumental, but fleeting. Sasori would be here forever. Even if he didn't make any impression at all on the world, he would always be there. Those were the differences between Sasori and Deidara.

Deidara's fists clenched. Sasori infuriated him, but the blonde was unable to imagine him not being _there_. Even though he pissed Deidara off to no end with his unchangeable views, and his rigid way of working, Sasori was _permanent._ It was utterly impossible that he would simply cease to exist. Which was why Deidara hated him so much, and yet did not wish for him to vanish. Sasori was the only constant in his life, and was the first thing he could count on to not just disappear one day.

No. Sasori wouldn't leave him. Sasori wouldn't die. Sasori would always be there, because that's what he was. A boring and strangely fascinating piece of art that would be there for all of eternity. So unlike Deidara and so many people he had known. Sasori wasn't like _them._

Sighing, Deidara lay down on his bed, tired suddenly. He hadn't slept since the fight with the Konoha ninja, and all of the emotional and physical stress was wearing down on him. It took almost no time at all for Deidara to fall into a restless sleep, shadows of the past catching up to him and haunting his dreams.

The blonde didn't know how much longer he could stand to be in Akatsuki. Their leader was insane, along with most of the members. Deidara knew he didn't have long before he followed the other members off the deep end. If he hadn't already.

* * *

"Itachi," Kisame growled. "What the hell are you plotting?" He knew, he just _knew_, that Itachi was up to something! This could not be good for either of them.

"Shut up and mind your own business," Itachi monotonously replied. Kisame blinked. He'd been expecting to be ignored. That Itachi had replied with more than just a 'hn', even though he still spoke in monotones meant that something was really bothering him. Kisame had a bad feeling about whatever it was.

Not wishing to irritate Itachi any further, Kisame turned around and returned to the hotel they were staying in for the night. Itachi didn't even acknowledge that he left, just continued to stare at the stars, his gaze fixed especially on _that_ constellation. The one that _he _had pointed out to Itachi. The raven felt an odd heaviness fill his chest. It was a foreign feeling that Itachi hadn't felt since he was a small child.

Personal regrets aside, Itachi needed to move forward with his plan soon. It might not be as hard as he had originally thought, after all. Itachi knew that Deidara in particular wouldn't be feeling all that happy about Akatsuki, if he ever had felt such, after the recent events. Sasori might even be convinced to go along, too. That only left Kisame and the other Akatsuki members to either win over or dispose of. Either one, it mattered not to Itachi.

Nothing other than his goal… no, his _ambition,_ mattered to Itachi at this point. Nothing had made him hesitate in carrying out his plan ever since _he_ died, once and for all. Nothing ever would sway him ever again.

At the least, that's what Itachi believed.

* * *

**If anyone has any questions, feel free to ask. I'll answer them to the best of my ability, although I won't give out spoilers.**

**I might go back and edit out that part with Itachi staring at the constellation… I seriously forgot what I was thinking then, and it'll prolly be a huge plot hole later.**

**Oh, this was written a while before current manga chappies (chappie 350 is how far I think I was), so expect some things to be AU-ish.**

**Translations:**

**Baka: stupid**

**Yoki: demon equivalent of chakra**

**Kyuubi: nine tails**

**Kyuubi no Kitsune: nine tailed fox**

**Please review! Reviews make me feel appreciated. Constructive criticism is coveted, and WILL improve my writing! Feel free to offer any ideas/ suggestions/ requests! I'll do my best to answer all questions! And pairing suggestion expecting is still going!** **Feel free to flame! Adds to my review count. :P**

**Ja ne!**

**Posted: Unknown**

**Editted:**


	3. Storm Clouds on the Horizon

**Here's the third chapter of Deadly Fun!**

**Warning: Yaoi. ****Of the ****ItaNaru**** and ****LxLight**** variety.**** Also very slight ****yuri**** on the emotional level.**** Don't like, don't read, don't flame. (Never could really get flamers. If you flame something you have to read it in the first place, and if you dislike something enough to flame it then why read it? The logic used by flamers boggles my mind…)**

**Ty for all of the lovely reviews! You people make me feel so loved! That doesn't mean I don't want more reviews (glare****s**** at people who have been reviewing my other stories once and then ignoring them) my reviewers have the weird tendency to randomly go missing… has anyone seen them? (****hinthint**

**Anyways, the votes are in! There's a unanimous decision for… push Sakura off a cliff! (****sound**** of crowd cheering fills the ****authoress's**** room) What ****tha****Anyways, most people have voted ****LxLight**** (4 I think), one for ****LightxL****, and one for ****LxLightxL****. Voting for this one isn't close yet, though! (****unless**** no one votes. Then it's closed)**

**Please review! Constructive criticism is, well, constructive! ****And appreciated.**** Comments on parts of the story, compliments, suggestions, and any reviews at all also all make my day! Go ahead and flame. It adds to my review count! Any and most questions will be answered!**

**Note to self: five cans of soda in a row ****is**** BAD!!! (****A****nd al****though the caffeine hype'****s fun,****it seems I'm ****annoying everyone!)**

**I somehow resisted rewriting most of this (though several parts were tweaked over and over) so it may or may not be top quality… or I might just be fretting over nothing. Ah, well!**

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**_'Brat,'_** the Kyuubi spoke from within Naruto's mind. **_'There might be a problem.'_**

Naruto paused in his training. He'd managed to combine the two jutsus together that would give Light his body, but was having trouble with transferring another soul to the body. Both he and the fox had agreed to use a fake soul of sorts to practice with, so Light wouldn't be in danger. That actually could be messing them up.

_'What is it, fox?'_ Naruto asked, looking around warily. His blood clone that he'd left with Kakashi and Yamato hadn't been destroyed, so that probably wasn't the problem.

_**'That's a messenger bird. ****Which means that there's some kind of trouble, of a high enough priority to call in all ****available**** jounin and ANBU.****'**_

Naruto narrowed his eyes thoughtfully. _'You don't think… __Akatsuki?'_

**_'There's a nine out of ten chance that it's them. This could spell trouble,'_** the fox growled. She sounded excited, rather than worried. Understandable. They'd been having a lot of downtime recently, and Naruto was getting bored. She had a shorter attention span that he did, and got bored far more easily.

Naruto nodded, and sent a message to his clone to try to follow Kakashi and/ or Yamato if they tried to go to the meeting or whatever. That done, he bounded in the direction of Konoha, disguising himself with a henshin as he ran. He had a bad feeling about this…

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"Gotta go," Kakashi said suddenly, eyes fixed upon the messenger hawk that flew overhead. "You two continue."

The blood clone, disguised with a henshin no jutsu so that it wouldn't look like a human shaped clump of blood, cancelled the rasengan he'd been holding. "Kakashi-sensei, what's going on?" he asked, his face a perfect mask of confusion. He'd received the order from the Original to find a way to attend the meeting, and attend he would. A clone always, always, _always_ follows the Original's orders.

"I've just been called to a meeting, that's all," Kakashi answered. He didn't want Naruto following. The only reason to call and emergency meeting like this would be if Akatsuki had something to do with it, and after the recent fiasco with Gaara being captured and with meeting Sasuke again Naruto was certain to insist on tagging along. He'd only end up jeopardizing the mission or worse, getting caught by the Akatsuki.

"Don't treat me as if I'm an idiot!" 'Naruto' shouted. It was the type of thing the illusionary Naruto would say, and the Original had told him to begin setting the groundwork for the dropping of the mask. Now was a good a time as any, if not better, to start. "Ero-sennin taught me this stuff, you know! That's a messenger hawk, and the only reason now a days for everyone to be called would be if it had something to do with Akatsuki!"

Kakashi sighed. As much as he didn't wish to acknowledge it, Naruto _was_ right. After the group of nuke nins had attacked Suna and Cloud, capturing two of their best fighters, the various nations had been convinced to either work together, with each other or with Akatsuki, or to at the least not make things any more difficult for the villages that hosted the jinchuuriki. There were several that were in favor of killing off the jinchuuriki, and they'd had quite the support because the demon hosts were dangerous on their own, but they'd been forced to back down because for one doing that would convince the jinchuuriki to band together and actually betray their villages, and two the jinchuuriki were the shinobi world's best defense against the power Akatsuki was gathering.

"Naruto, the meeting's for jounin and some select chunin only, so you, a genin aren't allowed to come," Kakashi reasoned, hoping it would be enough to deter the boy. Nope. No such luck.

'Naruto' scowled at him. "Hatake-sensei, I _will not_ joke around when it comes to the Akatsuki! I'm at the level of a chunin at the least, maybe even jounin, and also I've actually _fought_ several members before, so I know how to avoid getting killed and, in some cases, how to kill them!" The last part was made up, since if Naruto knew how to kill the Akatsuki he would've, but Kakashi didn't need to know that. The clone also hoped he hadn't been _t__o__o_ unlike the person whom Naruto was thought to be.

To say Kakashi was slightly startled by the level of seriousness with which Naruto spoke would be an understatement. He was shocked. 'Naruto', noticing this, couldn't help but wonder if he'd gone a _bit _overboard. With luck his blunder wasn't too large, and wasn't something that would be hard or even impossible to excuse or cover up.

Although Kakashi was shocked, the clone's fears were unfounded for he had so long underestimated Naruto that he, by instinct, assumed it absolutely _ridiculous_ that the blonde was hiding something. No, in fact, he just thought that Naruto was troubled by Gaara's close call with Death. Also maybe some of Jiraiya's training had started to finally show through.

Human minds have the wondrous tendency to ignore or edit what they do not except as logical, after all.

"You do have a point," Kakashi admitted, fully caught in his humanity, able to see but unable to except the small glimpse of the Boy Behind the Mask that the clone had inadvertently allowed him to see. For if he had accepted it, he would've excepted that the world isn't full of joy and happiness, that darkness lurks everywhere, even though he already knew. He knew in his heart of hearts, and in his mind, and in his very soul this simple and horrid truth. But he did not want to accept it, even if he knew it to be true. So he forgot the glimpse of Black coloring tainting the White puppet, the shining imitation of reality that was so life like it had all but the most perceptive utterly fooled. And even they, who could see the fakeness of the gemstone eyes, didn't want to believe it, didn't want to know that this childish fairy tale, embodied by the Perfect little puppet, was nothing more than a complex work of fiction.

So they didn't. They, masters of deceit that they were, lied to themselves, convinced themselves that _it was not true._ That the happy, dancing puppet was real, and that they couldn't see the thinner than hair wires attaching it to the hands of an unseen puppet master. Only those who had never once believed in the potential kindness of the world, in the benevolence of the sun that shone for as long as they could remember, and as far as they could imagine always would. And the ones that could do this, the ones that could except that harsh truth, _didn't care._ They'd never believed in fairy tales, had never been captivated by the lifelike fakeness of the Perfect puppets that would sometimes roam the earth, so why should they desire to? The ones that were fascinated by these epitomes of Happiness and Benevolence would only find themselves stabbed in the back when the puppet master got bored with the crowd always admiring the Puppet, but not the Master.

Indeed, they were the ones who laughed or smiled quietly to themselves when the puppet fell to a heap in the floor, forgotten as something Darker, something Deadly, entered the stage, and the puppet master made himself known. For they themselves were Puppet Masters, putting on shows for all the oblivious idiots who, despite all that had happened, despite the truth having been spelled out for them, still wanted to believe that the world was painted Black and White, everything and everybody one color or the other, but never both. The Hero and the Monster, fighting over the lovely and helpless Damsel in Distress, the Hero always winning because he was Good, the Monster Evil, and the Damsel in Distress was the prize, and Good _always _wins.

Pathetic. Whoever's left standing is the one that wins.

But still, even though Kakashi wore a Mask, even though he _acted_ and _pretended_, just like a Puppet Master, he was not one! He was, plainly and simply, an Actor. Pierce him, break his mask, and it's him you hit. Pierce a puppet, break a puppet's mask, and it's the puppet you hit, but never its Master. And so Kakashi could see the fakeness of the puppet, because he showed a gem encrusted face to the world, too. But he could not accept it, because he was a Liar, so good at lying that he didn't need to create someone else, a puppet, to lie for him. Such an amazing Liar that he could fool himself.

"I'll have to ask Hokage-sama about it," Kakashi said, lying, lying, lying. He would ask Tsunade, but he was _lying_. He lied, and said that Naruto was a carefree idiot! He lied, and said that the seriousness in Naruto's voice had been because the blonde was growing up! He lied so, so much, and said that it had all been because Kakashi wished to see him as less oblivious! Of course, the last one was it! Human minds only see what they expect to, after all, and one would think that the great Copy-Nin would expect his student to have grown at the least a little. He'd been expecting to see it, and so had made it up, or exaggerated the small amount of seriousness that there was. Must be.

'Naruto' could tell instantly that Kakashi had forgotten it, had forgotten that he'd accidently been allowed to see the flaking paint on the puppet's face. Had decided to try to ignore the truth. Yamato suspected nothing, and was not an issue. The ANBU had never seen Naruto's Complete Idiot puppet, and had only seen the Determined Dobe puppet. He thought that this was simply the outer reaches of his seriousness, brought on by stress and the blonde starting to see the paint flaking away from the puppet. He was not a Puppet Master, either, or even an Actor.

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei!" 'Naruto' exclaimed. Jumping up and shouting 'Yatta', even though it was what the Puppet would do, would only serve to make him look bipolar at this point. Best to stay on the serious side of the spectrum for now.

Kakashi's right eye turned into a U shape, showing he was smiling. He'd shaken the brief uncertainty that the only person he could always count on to be bright and happy, no matter what happened, might be _lying_, of all things. It was a mere phantasm, conjured up by stress and worry. Nothing more, nothing less.

"Ja ne!" Kakashi said cheerfully, before disappearing in a poof of smoke. 'Naruto' smirked on the inside. He was just a clone, but he'd still be able to avoid a bad situation, start working on the dropping of the mask, and he had a good chance at being able to go to the meeting! The Original would've surely done better, but the clone hoped that the Original would be proud of him, because it was a mighty accomplishment for the clone of a jinchuuriki to be able to mimic the Original very well. Jinchuuriki were so complex, that they were nigh impossible to imitate perfectly. Maybe the Original would even be proud enough to save the clone, and summon him again!

Even though the clone knew that he'd be kept in the Liar's Palace, like all of Naruto's masks and puppets, he didn't mind. He'd been made from the Liar's Palace anyways. All the clone was and ever would be was a complex puppet given a body of his own, and a mind of his own, and even allowed to _make,_ not be given, _his _own Masks and Puppets, not the Original's! Even though the Original was so much smarter than he, the clone held in high regard the ability to be able to _create _and _imagine._ For that meant he was Alive.

Inwardly beaming, the clone let show a slight grin, and distractedly turned back to his training. 'Naruto' wouldn't be able to focus entirely on his training when he had the prospect of actually _fighting_ the Akatsuki in an all out battle when he supposedly didn't have to worry about anything else. _(yeah, right. He couldn't show his true power or let his 'friends' die.) _Even though the Original actually cared somewhat for them, and 'Naruto' was obsessed with them, the clone loathed them. They and their inability to accept reality was making the Original upset.

And a clone always looks out for the Original.**

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**"Tsunade-sama," Kakashi called out, poofing into the Hokage's office. He knew that she would be mad at him, but Naruto would throw a temper tantrum if he wasn't even so much as humored. 

"What is it, Hatake?" she snarled. Today was not her day. She did _not_ need an attack from the Akatsuki now! "You know that the meeting's to be held in the Village Square."

"I know, I know, but Naruto noticed the hawk and wants to come to the meeting, too. He'd annoy me forever if I said no, so I decided to ask you first," Kakashi hastily explained, not wishing to be sent through the wall of the Hokage Tower. He'd spent more than enough time in the Hospital already this week, thank you very much.

Tsunade scowled. "Stupid gaki," she muttered. There was no reason to deny him access to the meeting, though, and he would pester her forever if she forbade him from coming. She could always tell him to stay in Konoha, anyways. Yes, that's what she'd do. "Tell him he can come, but he's to keep as quiet as a mouse! And I mean it!"

"Hai!" Kakashi replied, poofing back to the training ground to fetch Naruto.

The blonde was all too eager to quit training for the time being, he and Yamato following Kakashi to the Village Square where Tsunade would give her speech. The clone was able to sense the Original somewhere nearby.

About ninety jounin and chunin showed up, and around ten miscellaneous ninja such as Naruto and Yamato. Tsunade stood at the top of the Hokage Tower, he face grim.

"The Akatsuki have recently attacked and massacred almost everyone at the Fire Temple. The only one that escaped was the very monk that brought us the news of this calamity. Eighty of the ninety of you that should be here," she paused at this point, glaring at the ten people, give or take a few, that had randomly decided to show up. "Will be organized into twenty different four man groups. The other ten will be given special briefing. The ten of you that aren't supposed to be here can either help, if a position is found, or can go back to whatever you were doing."

At her words, a few of the random people left, leaving only five who weren't originally supposed to be there. Sakura, Yamato, 'Naruto', a chunin, and a jounin. 'Naruto' could sense that the chunin was the Original, and the jounin had the same underlying scent that Sai had possessed when he first met Naruto, that declared be belonged to Root. Great, Danzou was probably going to try to ally with the Akatsuki now. Just what they needed.

They all turned their attention back to Tsunade as she called the ten that were supposed to be there but weren't going to be arranged into a team, and the five that had decided to stay. The eighty who would be in the Niju Shotai were instructed to do as Shizune told them.

All fifteen ninja, consisting of seven jounin, two ANBU disguised as jounin, five chunin, and one genin, shunshin'ed up to the Hokage's office, circumventing such normal and time consuming things as stairs.

"Tsunade-sama, before you say I'm not allowed to help because I'm a genin and a jinchuuriki, I'd like to object to that opinion," Naruto stated, just as Tsunade was opening her mouth to forbid him from fighting.

She scowled. "Naruto, the only thing I can do with the excess five is to have them also sorted into four man teams, and I can't do that if there's one extra. You're the worst choice for the job, so I'm saying no!"

The Original, stilled disguised as some chunin or another, came to the clone's rescue. "Hokage-sama, if you don't mind me saying, but Uzumaki-san shouldn't be disallowed to participate just because the Akatsuki is after him. If anything, it should be encouraged. Whichever team he travels with would be five times as likely to encounter the Akatsuki members, and Uzumaki-san _has_ fought the Akatsuki before. Plus, if you don't mind me saying, I'm sure that he'd be under surveillance from at the least one jounin, who more than likely accompanied him. If Naruto was to stay here, then so would whoever's protecting him, possibly dropping our numbers down to three or lower."

Tsunade fixed a glare on the chunin. How _dare_ he question her? Still, he was right. If Naruto was to stay behind then so would Yamato. She could always kick all five stragglers out, though. "Well, then who the hell _should_ I kick out?" she asked, venom lacing her voice. She was tired and under stress. Now was _not_ the time to be screwing with her.

"One of the two chunin, most likely," the Root ANBU in disguise said. The chunin brat that had pointed out the flaw in Tsunade's plan was too perceptive, too brash and willing to challenge authority, and too on the side of the Kyuubi no Gaki for his tastes. It was in his favor to have a chance to get the blonde brat killed off, since Danzou-sama had ordered them to kill the Nine Tailed Fox incarnate if at all possible. Yes, this could work.

Tsunade nodded, smiling slightly. "Well, since a medic nin who can fight would be crucial on this type of journey, it isn't suggestible to tell Sakura to not come. That only leaves the other chunin among the five misfits."

The Original nodded, showing his agreement. "I'd hoped to be able to help," he said, bowing slightly. "But I don't want to get in the way either, and I _am_ the least suggestible to have on this trip." He waited until he was dismissed by Tsunade to poof away. They didn't suspect a thing.

The Hokage turned back to the four remaining rule breakers. As much as she hated it, they'd been one four man team short. This was merely proof that the gods and goddesses had wicked senses of humor. Or they all hated her. She was certain it was one of those two.

"You four," she began, gaze fixed intently on the four shinobi. "Will be arranged into the twenty first four man team. You will travel and work with a team consisting of Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Choji, Yamashiro Aoba, and Namiashi Raido. Whatever you do, do_ not_ let Akatsuki capture Naruto, and avoid getting killed."

"Hai," the four chorused. Tsunade dismissed them, relieved that the problem of being one team short had been removed, but mad that it had to be _Naruto_ of all people that was on the team! She hoped they didn't run into Akatsuki. The blonde would only mess things up.

Turning to the ten that were _supposed_ to be there, she began telling them what their part in the mission would be. They couldn't mess this up, although she doubted they would. Most of the jounin and one chunin were ex ANBU, and all of them were specially noted for their skills. Yes, if anyone could complete the task assigned to them, they would.

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Ino sighed, swiftly gathering the things she'd need. She had been assigned to a team with Choji, that annoying slob, and two people she didn't even know! The people on the other team weren't so bad, although both jounin had an air of something suspicious about them. It felt as if they were lying about their skill level.

Which meant that Sakura was the only truthful one on that team, even though the girl _did _tend to exaggerate her skill level, she never _hid_ it. Ino had known that Naruto was more powerful than he seemed to be ever since the blonde had returned from his training trip with Jiraiya. Her new perception had been mostly because of her raised abilities, and because of things she'd learned from Shikamaru that the genius had noticed about Naruto, times when the blonde had slipped in his act. Even though Shikamaru thought that Naruto was merely hiding some huge secret, not his whole personality and ability level.

Ino wanted to believe that, too. It was hard to accept that the bright and happy blonde might not be as he seemed, that there might actually be something hidden _underneath the underneath_, as they were always told to look for. But Ino, despite her ability to act, wasn't a liar. She had trouble lying to others, and she could _never _lie to herself. She'd tried, and failed. Yamanaka Ino was one of those extremely rare people that can see past the puppet's exterior, that actually care that the puppet is a _fake,_ and that cannot lie to themselves, cannot convince themselves that they were imagining things. Such an amazing ability, to be able to feel and to see past false exteriors, and to be able to perceive what she saw. Such a rare and cursed thing, this coveted ability of hers was.

Yelling out a goodbye to her mother, Ino exited her room via the window and ran towards the meeting place. She needed to hurry. If the Akatsuki members managed to escape because she was late, she'd never forgive herself.

Ino lied to herself, and said that the prospect of everyone failing because of her was the reason for this feeling of dread. That the prophetic abilities her five times over great grandmother had been gifted with hadn't been passed onto her, the seventh daughter born into the side of the Yamanaka line her mother belonged to. She lied, and said it was nerves, rather than the prophetic abilities she tried to convince herself she didn't have. That all those weird coincidences when she'd 'predicted the future' were just that, coincidences.

Ino had never been a good liar.

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Hidan scowled. That stupid Kakazu! He should just sacrifice him to Jashin! But no, he'd get in trouble if he did that!

Still, the thought of Kakazu drenched in his own blood, screaming and wriggling around, hyped by the adrenaline caused by a fight and by being wounded… _enticed _him. Kakazu might be able to kill him, also. Or wound him, at the least. That would be fun!

Hidan's scowl switched suddenly, his face breaking into a maniacal grin. After a few seconds it faded though. That wouldn't be allowed either. Damn!

A feeling of unease grew within him suddenly, the powers that Jashin-sama had gifted him with alerting him to danger. An enemy of Jashin-sama was close by.

Adrenaline coursed through Hidan's veins, fueled by what most would mistake as sheer terror, if they were to feel it. It was a natural reaction, caused by eternities of evolution refining instincts, creating this thing called _fear_, telling the creature to run and hide and protect its life. Hidan, despite all of his gifts from Jashin, was in fact alive. And so he felt this instinctual emotion. But he was not afraid. He was _excited._

Hidan's grin returned. Weak little Konoha nin, their lives and loyalties pledged to their superiors and everyone around them, were no match for Hidan, who only answered in truth to his god, following the Leader's instructions only because Jashin-sama had told him too. Even the Root ANBU hidden amongst them would provide nothing more than a fleeting feeling of amusement.

The jinchuuriki, though. He was something to look forward to. What luck Hidan had, to be able to fight a _jinchuuriki_ of such a powerful beast! The Kyuubi no Kitsune itself would be fun to fight, but jinchuuriki, especially one as high a level as _this_ one seemed to be, were always more entertaining! Maybe if he got even luckier, Kakazu would take forever like he normally did and not show up until Hidan had had his fun.

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Deidara stormed out of the meeting room, fuming. How dare he! The blonde knew all to well that the Leader could do whatever the hell he wished, but _this_… this was beyond acceptable!

If it wasn't for Sasori still being in recovery, Deidara would've left the fucking organization by this point, screw personal safety! The blonde couldn't leave Sasori alone in this place when he still wasn't at his full, though. The red head would likely end up killed in a mission, knowing the Leader's tolerance for failure.

Speaking of failure, why the hell was what he and Sasori had done considered such?!? Yah, sure, the place where they'd extracted Shukaku had been destroyed, but so what? They had five million more just like it! The Leader also was mad that the Kazekage had not only been captured in such a loud manner, bringing the world's attention to Akatsuki, but that the leader of Sunagakure had been resurrected. Deidara had no clue why the hell the second one even mattered, but the Leader seemed to place some value in it. Enough to be mad (not pissed. Leader was _never _pissed) at Deidara and Sasori for 'failing'.

Really, what should they have done? Been blown to bits? Sasori _had_ been blown to bits, and he'd barely survived. For what reason? The stupid Konoha and Suna shinobi had still won, and had still resurrected Gaara.

Deidara was so blinded by his rage, his emotions once again overtaking him, that he failed to see where he was going. He failed to sense the person waiting for him.

Itachi detached from the wall, emerging from the shadows. To the human eye, and to the inattentive eyes, it seemed as if he suddenly materialized from the darkest depths of the night. Deidara jumped back slightly, almost imperceptibly, though Itachi's piercing eyes saw and noted Deidara's surprise. And he did not care.

"What the hell do you want?" Deidara spat at Itachi, irritated beyond words. How _dare_ the raven come into his and Sasori's quarters? Each Akatsuki team had its own section of the base for a reason!

"Deidara," Itachi greeted, his voice its usual monotone. He took no notice of Deidara's bad mood. "Not here. I wish to speak with you, alone, where there are no prying ears. Meet me at _the_ place at midnight. Make sure you're not followed. It'll be worth your trouble."

His message delivered, Itachi flickered out of existence, the minor illusion that had been used to deliver the message dispersing. Unlike himself or any type of clone, this illusion didn't cast a chakra signature about, having an internalized 'battery' of sorts that would run out after a certain amount of time or could be canceled, leaving no trace and having no energy signature while running.

Deidara scowled. Typical Uchiha. Why in all the hells would he want to talk with the raven, anyways? Still, the level of secrecy that Itachi seemed to desire for this, made Deidara doubt his earlier resolution to have nothing to do with Itachi unless it involved killing or defeating him. This might actually be worth sneaking around.

Normally, he wouldn't have given what Itachi said a second thought, but then again conditions weren't exactly 'normal', were they?

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**Ya, I know there wasn't any L, Light, Itachi, or even much original Naruto in this, but I'm getting there! This was really more of a transitional chapter than anything else.**

**If any of you have any questions whatsoever, feel free to ask. I'll do my very ****bestest**** to answer!**

**Pairing that will be hinted at/ included:**

**Main:**

**ItaNaru**

**LxLight**

**Side:**

**Sasori x Deidara (included)**

**Hidan x Kakazu (depends on if it fits into the story)**

**Temari x Ino (once again, depends****Like this one quite a bit though, so I'll try to hint at the least…**

**Suigetsu x Juugo (****don't know if I'll even get much of a chance to include these two at all… but when I focus on Hebi, I'll focus on these two rather than Sasuke-teme mostly)**

**Neji x Kiba (depends on if it fits)**

**ONESIDED Ino x Sakura (Ino liking Sakura. For plot purposes)**

**For the ones that end up not fitting, I'll probably end up making Omakes that tie into the storyline for them if I like '****em**** enough.**

**Any others you guys want? I can actually do some development on side pairings, since I think focusing on one/ two characters is boring, and I like to actually have things happen for a reason, so I'll be including non main characters ****in this. And pairing give me plot ideas, which help improve my writing and/ or get around slight writer's block.**

**This'll mostly focus on****ItaNaru**** and L x Light, though.**

**I'm an extreme perfectionist, so don't be surprised if the first chapter or two gets rewritten in the next year. I'm also a ****major ****procrastinator so it might actually take that long… (****laughs**** nervously) I'm trying to work on update speed, though!**

**Please review! Just a few letters will make me happy! (I've actually gotten one letter reviews before****...) Constructive criticism makes me a better writer, and suggestions/ the readers' desires will be taken into account. I'll do my best to answer questions. Go ahead and flame. Adds to my review ****count :P**


	4. The Nightmare Begins

**Here's the fourth chapter of Deadly Fun!**

**Warning: Yaoi. ****Character death.**** This story is M rated.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Death Note. I had something funny planned to put here, but I forgot it.**

**Please, please, please review! All my lovely reviewers are becoming an endangered species! If you review one chapter, it'd be appreciated if you reviewed the others. If you favorite this, and therefore like the story, it's considered common courtesy to review. Constructive criticism is coveted, and flames will be laughed at.**

**Also, if there's a side pairing you want to see/ be hinted at/ be included in an omake, feel free to tell me. They help me advance the plot and get rid of writers block, in addition to having the pairing be in here.**

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Silence. Darkness. Nothingness.

There was nothing there, and yet there was something. No matter, no volume, nothing to fill the void, and yet there was a sense that _he was not alone_.

Even though this place consisted of nothing, it contained more than the Void had.

"Well, well, well, look at what we have here," a voice chuckled, eerily familiar and yet completely foreign.

Light stiffened. He _knew_ that voice! He knew he did! But who owned that voice?

Darkness. Light turned to face the voice, but he saw nothing. His vision was filled by the same darker than the darkest black shade that surrounded him. He could see the person he was talking to, though, even if his eyes couldn't perceive him.

The image was ever changing, a minute detail here and there shifting, altering. A thought, being perfected and tweaked by his won subconsciousness. A vision held only in his minds eye, of something he could never have imagined.

A child. Clad in rags, his feet bare. Or was it a he? Light could not tell.

_'Who are you?'_

Light's vocal cords did not work. He could not produce sound in this soundless place as the child had. He _knew_, without knowing how he knew, that the child would know. The child would know the question, and would reply.

"Who am I? Yes, yes! I wonder, who am I?" the child asked. Light knew it grinned. "I know not, ya know? I'm nobody, I'm everybody, I'm myself! Do you know who I am?

Wrong question. Time was ticking. Light could not stay here forever. He had only so much time to speak, to ask, here in this timeless place.

_'What are you?'_

"Me? What am _I_?" the child asked, tilting his head to the side. Was it a wrong question? Had Light wasted more time? "Well, isn't it obvious? I'm what's left over, duh!"

Right question, riddle for an answer. What did the child mean?

The picture in his minds eye. Defining. Details that had been looked at but not seen. The face that Light had recognized, but had not known.

Hair spiked, defying gravity. Eyes that hid all emotion. A grin that didn't look quite right. Light knew him, knew his face, knew his name, knew what he was, knew many of his secrets. What Light didn't know was _who_ he was.

Dizziness. The picture dispersed, leaving his mind and vision entirely blank. Sleepiness.

No! He mustn't fall asleep! He mustn't _cease to be aware!_

Danger. He needed to wake up. He needed to _pay attention!_ Or he would cease to be.

Nothingness. Nothing to hold onto, to grasp and cling to. Nothing to use to halt his decent into the depth of Mu.

There. A flicker. A light. A feeling. A sense of _being_. Something.

He expanded his senses, probing, feeling. There! He grabbed the thought, clinging to it with all of his being. He could not let go.

A memory. A fleeting recollection of a past world was all that stood between him and not being.

Light pulled himself into the memory, desperate not to let go, desperate not to disappear. He still had something to do. He still had something to regret.

**

* * *

**

_(flashback)_

_Light opened his eyes, sleep still holding him in its tempting, frightening grasp._

_Wet. His face was wet. Tears and a cold, fearful sweat, both caused by the nightmare Sleep had brought him, served to cover his face in a thin layer of liquid._

_What had he been dreaming about? Whatever it was, it was terrifying. It was exhilarating. It was something one side of him called for with all its might, the other shrinking away from the idea, horrified by it. Not because__ so many thousands of people would die, but because _he_ would be among the causalities._

_Light didn't know who _he_ was._

_Hesitant to return to sleep, the fiendish nightmare that had been silently plaguing him ever since he escaped confinement haunting his thoughts, Light silently turned his head. And had to withhold a gasp at what he saw._

_L. Ryuuzaki. The greatest detective in the world sleeping, his eyes lightly shut._

_How could he look__ so peaceful? How could he look so _innocent_? He was far from peaceful, far from innocent. He was a hunter, tracking down his prey mercilessly, not stopping until he killed it. And Light, __Kira,__ was his prey._

_Not that Light knew that. He thought he was merely a suspect._

_Kira knew that __though,__ knew that L hunted him just as he hunted L. Kill or be killed. Eat or be eaten. __Each trying to find proof, proof of the other's name, proof of the other's guilt.__ Whoever won, survived. Whoever __lost,__ died._

_That was how the game was played._

_But now the rules had changed._

_Kira was no longer the Snake hidden in the grass, trying to find and bite the Hound that hunted it before it was caught. Kira was now the Spider. And what a difference that made._

_L was no longer the Hound, dutifully hunting the prey that its masters told it to seek and destroy. L was now the Cat. And what a difference that made._

_Snake versus Hound. __Spider versus Cat.__ No difference, nothing alike at all. The Hound would surely defeat the Snake, for there are more Hounds, and they travel in packs. The Spider would defeat the Cat, for __the Cat despite all its stealth and cunning cannot grasp the elusive Spider sufficiently, and the Spider only needs to be allowed close enough to bite just once._

_That was neither here nor there._

_Light was not the Snake or the Spider, because Light was not Kira. Kira possessed the Death __Note,__ and Kira had surrendered his ownership of the deadly book. Later Light would vanish, and Kira would become the Spider, but not yet._

_Lawliet was neither the Hound nor the Cat, for Lawliet was not L. L hunted Kira, or whoever had ever been Kira or would ever be Kira again, without hesitation, without remorse. Lawliet didn't want Light to be Kira. L didn't want to be wrong. Later __Lawliet would vanish, and L would take his place, because Light vanished and was replaced by L's enemy, Kira._

_Now, though, the Light that wasn't Kira watched the Lawliet that wasn't L as he slept. Ever deceitful, he lied even in his sleep. He appeared like such a sweet, lovely little angel, when in reality he was ruthless and self centered, not caring who he mowed down or what rules he broke as long as _he_, not Kira, not anyone else, won. Light appeared as the perfect everything. The perfect student, the perfect son, the perfect boyfriend, the perfect person, he was able to lie just as skillfully as L. No, he was better at lying. __Because even though L could lie to himself, Light could fool the world forever and an eternity, capable of telling a lie and, even if those he spoke to could read his mind, being _believed_ Everyone accepted what L said, but almost none of them believed it as truly as they believed Light's lies._

_Light was not a Puppet Master, though, but neither was he an Actor. He lied by always telling the truth. He'd never told the truth even once in his life. He'd never uttered a complete falsehood even once in his life. He was the greatest liar of all time, because when he lied he didn't lie._

_When Light said he wasn't Kira, he told the truth. __When Light said he wasn't Kira, he lied. Kira was an ideal, not a person. Kira was a person that, by the law of the land, was a serial killer._

_The truth that Light was not Kira won out, though, because not all of Light, even when he had his memories, _was_ Kira. Only a third of him was. One third cared not, as long as he survived and his version of justice was served. The last third was an idealist, and was always opposing Kira. It mattered not, for the Death Note always overrode the idealist, who'd dared come up with such a ludicrous idea as to create a world where everyone was happy. __Such a ridiculous idea.__ Kira's idea of becoming God was possible. The second third's idea of creating a world where everyone followed the law to the letter was possible. Not a world where everyone was happy and at peace._

_Now, Kira had left with the Death Note. The second third wasn't a free thinker, and could care less what happened anyways. So the final third had free reign, as long as he followed the rules._

_And the final third was fascinated by Lawliet. Too bad consorting with the enemy was against the rules._

_Light__ smiled at Lawliet, reaching gently to brush a strand of hair out of his __closed eyes. How could someone so paranoid, someone so mistrusting, be so innocent in his sleep? How could he be so… ideal?_

_L, ever alert, felt the slight tickle as his hair was moved from in front of his eyes, and immediately snapped awake. He did not open his eyes, though, continuing to feign sleep. L didn't even show any sign of waking, no change in breathing pattern, no shifting of the muscle. Years of training and even longing of a nagging sense of paranoia had paid off._

_"Why must you always be so... interesting?" Light asked softly, his voice hardly a whisper. L had to strain his ears to hear. "I can't figure you out. Unlike everyone else, I can't see what lies underneath the underneath with you. I want to though. I want to know you, the _only_ puzzle I can't solve."_

_Why did Light wonder? Why did Light even care? Lawliet was sure that Light hated __him, that__ Light resented him, that Light wanted nothing to do with him and didn't care to try to look past the surface. Was it simply curiosity as to what Lawliet hid? Was it nothing more than a determination not to lose, to solve every puzzle? Or was it… something else?_

_Lawliet knew not. He did not have time to speculate, and neither did he want to, as the alarm clock went off._

_Light forcefully removed all signs of what he truly felt from his visage as the alarm rang, hiding __himself__ under a mask like he always did. He couldn't let L figure him out. He couldn't let _anyone_ know him. If they knew him, they could beat him. He could lose._

_"So you actually _do_ sleep," Light commented lightly, watching L with disinterest as the detective opened his eyes and got up. L sent him a blank look. It felt almost as if L was saying 'No duh', but L was too composed to do or say anything like that._

_As he and L ran through their usual morning routine, get dressed, grab breakfast (eggs for Light and cake for L), and drink five cups of coffee apiece, Light couldn't shake a creeping feeling of dread, a forewarning of disaster to come. __A feeling that he and Lawliet both were doomed._

_It mattered not, this desire of his to lock himself in his room, lights turned off, wrapped tightly in a protective blanket. They __needed to continue pursuing the third Kira. Light and L were both sure that the culprit was Higuchi. They had several important leads, and now only needed proof._

_As Light followed L to the investigation room, his feet as heavy as lead, he told himself a million times over that he was imagining things. That nothing bad would happen. That they'd catch Higuchi, and it would turn out they were wrong and he was the first Kira all along. That they would learn that the second Kira was some random __person, that__he or she __would either be caught quickly or was already dead. That this instinct that told him to run, to hide, to avoid Higuchi and his way of killin__g at all costs was simply fear. That he was afraid for his life, going face to face with a serial killer as he was._

_He tried to tell himself that it had nothing to do with the strange dreams he'd had ever since his captivity started, that it had nothing to do with the unexplainable gaps or incongruencies in his memory. That it wasn't something he had planned, or he knew would happen that invoked this feeling of doom._

_Light had never been able to lie to __himself_

_Today was October 28, 2004._

**

* * *

**

Sasuke stared at the cloudy sky, deep in thought. Sheet lightning crackled in the storm clouds, the clouds themselves threatening to let go at any moment, to wash away everything in the world below. Threatening to erase all, leaving a clean slate behind, to be befouled by memories of the past and returning feeling. Leaving behind a clean new world, to be made even dirtier than before all in a matter of a few minutes.

Such was the way of the world.

Sasuke stared at the lightning, half wishing it would suddenly jump to the ground, striking him dead, half wishing the lightning would strike down Orochimaru, strike down all of his mistakes, as the rain poured and washed away all the sin he'd committed.

Wishful thinking. Foolish.

Sasuke knew that no god or goddess was merciful enough to fulfill either wish, any sane deities of Good having turned their backs on one of the last two Uchihas in the world. Only the deities of Evil still cared for Sasuke. He was a useful tool, after all. Much more useful and manipulatable than his stubborn older brother.

Sasuke did not dwell on the past. He lived in it, he lived for it, he clung to it, it was his sole reason for existing, but he did not dwell on it. He went with his decision at the time, not bothering to look back, not bothering to reanalyze things with a new eye. For he might discover he was in the wrong. And if that happened, he'd have no reason to cling to this pathetic thing called Life.

Sasuke was moving forwards now, charging blindly ahead into a situation he planned out carefully, step by step.

He'd learned all he could from Orochimaru. The snake was no longer useful, and was now only a threat to his Existence, to his very Purpose. And all threats must be eliminated.

So Sasuke planned, and Sasuke plotted, walking blindly along a path he scoured with a critical eye. Orochimaru must die. It wasn't regrettable, but neither was it something to celebrate or feel excited about. It was merely another step in his plan.

And Sasuke knew just how to kill Orochimaru. He'd planned this twisting, turning, unforeseeable, surprising, unpredictable path out from the beginning, after all. Even when he guessed, even when he acted on impulse, he planned.

Or, he thought he did.

No, Sasuke planned not. Sasuke did not manipulate, Sasuke did not decide of his own free will. He thought he did, but he was dead wrong.

Sasuke was manipulated. Some part of Naruto thought he had a hold on Sasuke's heart, the other part wished he did. Orochimaru thought he had Sasuke eating out of the palm of his hand, blindly dancing to his tune. Madara thought he had the perfect pawn in the making, a piece of moldable clay that he could get to do whatever he wanted, that would even be so kind as to dispose of his previous pawn, a flawed thing that did not fully heed his will.

They were all wrong.

Itachi manipulated Sasuke. Itachi controlled Sasuke, pulling the strings from off stage. Everyone else shouted out commands to the puppet, thinking it was they who controlled it when it obeyed them. Itachi held the strings, though. He always had, ever since Sasuke was born. Sasuke was the perfect pawn, and best of all nobody would ever guess.

Sasuke stood up, turning to walk back into Orochimaru's lair. Today was the day he was supposed to have his soul replaced by Orochimaru's soul, his body taken over. Today was the day he'd prove he was not _Orochimaru's_ puppet. Today was the day that the snake would die.

Sasuke couldn't let Orochimaru get in the way of his ambition. He'd used the snake for power, but he was not going to trust the snake with his revenge. Even if he did, he wanted to be the one to kill Itachi. He would not allow anyone else to.

That type of mentality, that way of thinking, had been imprinted in his brain by his dear older brother, after all.

**

* * *

**

Tsunade had to resist the urge to yell and hit something. Or more specifically, someone. Those two idiots Mitokado Homaru and Utatane Koharu had been bugging her about how she'd let Naruto go on such a high profile mission, hunting Akatsuki no less. Even the fact that he was currently guarded by two jounin, two ANBU, and three chunin couldn't placate them.

"Look," she growled. "Naruto can handle himself! He's _not_ dumb enough or weak enough to get captured by the Akatsuki! Knowing him he'd rather kill himself!"

Tsunade thought she lied, but in fact she told the truth. If Naruto had been his puppet, she would've lied. If Naruto had been as everyone thought, she'd be lying. But the only lie was the part that she thought true. That Naruto would rather kill himself. Yes, that was how the Naruto everyone knew would act, but the real him would simply destroy everyone in the Akatsuki with the Kyuubi's chakra. If he ever got caught in the first place.

"You can't be sure of that, Tsunade-sama," Koharu replied calmly. This was the last straw. Ever since she had been inaugurated as Hokage, Tsunade had been growing more and more rebellious towards the council. She was a free thinker and stubborn. She knew what she wanted, and she was going to get it. No questions asked.

Or, at least, that's the way she wanted it. She wasn't going to get her way, though. Not if the members of the council that still had any vestiges of sense left to them had anything to say about it.

Both Koharu and Homaru were thinking the same thing as the discussion with Tsunade continued. Danzou was right. Tsunade had fallen under the demon fox's spell, and needed to be replaced with someone who could resist the demon as soon as possible. They couldn't impeach her without a unanimous vote from the council, though, and several of the clan heads had also fallen under the fox's illusion, and now sided with her. Unless she broke the law or died they were stuck.

Danzou had said he had a plan when the issue was raised, but that had been back when they first tried to put limits on the jinchuuriki, and nothing had happened so far. But if Koharu and Homaru had learned anything in their lifetimes, it was patience. They would wait, and they would watch as Danzou's plan unfolded.

Even if he failed, Koharu had a back up plan. She _always_ did.

**

* * *

**

Danzou stared at the wall of the underground hideout, gripping the metal rail that lined the balcony type area where he stood. This… wasn't good. His mind played and replayed the information that had been delivered by one of his minions just a few minutes ago over and over. This couldn't be happening. This was far from planned.

Why the hell had _he_ shown up again, after all this time?

**

* * *

**

Naruto stared at the S ranked missing nin with the utmost calm. Being excited, being worked up would not do. He'd end up killed. 'Naruto' didn't know that, though, so he tensed his muscles, clearly anticipating the fight to come. It was actually almost approaching beginning to slightly get on the ever stoic Yamato's nerves.

Naruto had never thought he'd see the day.

Back on the subject of the upcoming fight, their plan was ridiculous. The guy, Hidan, clearly could sense them and knew they were there, yet not even the two ANBU seemed to realize this. Was it really _that _hard to see past Hidan's act?

Don't answer that. Naruto _really_ didn't want to know exactly how stupid the people he'd entrusted his life with were.

**_'What does it matter, brat? You can always just go crazy and kill those two imbecilic Akatsuki guys,'_** the Kyuubi pointed out.

Hm. She had a good point.

_'Yes, but then I'd get in trouble with Konoha, and if my teammates were dead then I'd be blamed,'_ Naruto replied.

Naruto had an even better point.

Before the fox could say anything to the contrary, Naruto changed the subject. He didn't want them to get into a pointless argument, after all. He wouldn't be able to do anything with his teammates breathing down his neck anyways.

_'Fox, what's with that clone we summoned earlier? It seemed… unusually smart, even for a blood clone. I saved its thought process, just in case,'_ Naruto asked/ said. If he wasn't so bored and convinced that their plan would never work he wouldn't have brought the subject up, but he had nothing to do for the next fifteen minutes. Ah, the joy of spying on a stationary, apparently fast asleep target. You get to sit there forever.

_**'Just because it's smarter than you ****doesn't**_**_ mean it's unusually smart,'_ **she commented, earning a mental growl from Naruto. Really, couldn't they guy take a joke? **_'But it does have a surprisingly high intelligence, and high amount of creativity. This hasn't ever happened before to my knowledge, so I can't say anything for sure, but it probably formed its own soul, or maybe a pseudo soul of sorts.'_**

Before Naruto could comment, a huge explosion rocked the surrounding area.

Wonderful. The exact opposite of what they needed. Why the hell had Naruto decided to listen to these people again?

Oh yeah. They had a higher ranking than they did. And he could wipe anyone of them off the face of the Earth in a split second. Yup. Made perfect sense.

Yamato put his hand on Naruto's shoulder as the blonde shifted, acting as if he was about to jump to his feet and rush into the fray.

"Wait," he whispered. "We shouldn't blindly charge in."

Moron. Finding out what was going on would be easy. They could either blow away the smoke or, better yet, actually use their chakra to sense their enemies' presence for once! They were _ninja_, not samurai.

"I'll just blow away the smoke, then!" Naruto exclaimed. Screw acting like an idiot! Ending up dead was _not_ an option.

…Okay, maybe it was, but it wasn't one Naruto was going to consider.

Before Yamato could protest, Naruto summoned a overly large amount of wind chakra and clear away all the smoke and debris. What he saw was not pretty.

"How in all the hells did _that_ happen," Naruto snarled, glaring at the situation his teammates had gotten in. Not that any other than Yamato heard him.

The plan had been straightforward, and would've worked if they'd been fighting anyone else. Sadly, they were fighting an elite warrior whose senses had been enhanced by the Dark God he followed. It was the basic sneak up behind the enemy and attack him from his blind spot with one of the jounin while everyone else blocked the exits and provided back up.

First problem was that Hidan had noticed them. Second problem was the extreme lack of ability to work together. Third problem was that few of them actually trusted each other. Great trait for a shinobi, horrid trait when directed towards a teammate.

Now, the Root ANBU disguised as a jounin had set off several exploding tags, which had set off all of the exploding tags that Hidan had been carrying. And worst of all was not only that the missing nin was still alive, but that it had alerted everyone within a mile radius that they were there.

_'Is this guy trying to kill us all?'_ Naruto growled mentally. He fought down the urge to rip out the guts of his teammate, who should've known better.

_**'Likely. Danzou probably told him to get you killed and either kill of the Akatsuki members or form an alliance with Akatsuki so he could later backstab them. The others****are just counted as collateral damage.'**_

Naruto nodded internally before pulling out as many kunai as he could throw in one group. Applying his wind chakra to them, he flung them at Kakazu, who had just arrived on the scene.

The ensuing fight didn't actually last all that long. Whenever a teammate was injured Sakura would heal them, although one of Ino's teammates had been killed by Hidan's jutsu. They'd been careful to not be hit after that.

Hidan scowled, not liking how long the fight was taking. By the leaf shinobi's standards it was a fairly fast fight, but by his standards it was dragging on forever. They most annoying one was that damn medic nin. If it wasn't for her, the jinchuuriki, and the two ANBU he would've won by now!

Suddenly he grinned maniacally, and started chuckling. "Time to end this!" he declared, charging forwards.

Sakura wasn't able to move out of the way fast enough, and none of her teammate were able to respond before Hidan had severed her head clean from her body.

No rituals, no drawing a small amount of blood, no worry about others interrupting his jutsu. Just pure bloodshed.

Ino's eyes widened, the world moving in slow motion as Sakura's body collapsed to the ground. She'd been killed so quickly, so soundlessly, so _easily_, that it had trouble sinking into Ino's mind what had happened.

But Ino was horrible at lying to herself, and her gut clench as she realized that _this was her fault_. If she'd only paid attention to the prophetic feeling of doom she'd felt before the mission, if she'd only spoken against Tsunade-sama allowing anyone not assigned to the Niju Shotai to come, and especially not Sakura, then the girl would still be breathing, would still be _alive_.

Ino screeched as Sakura's body thudded to the ground, tears spilling over and pouring down her face. Why? _Why?_ _WHY?!?!_

This couldn't be happening! This couldn't be true! NONONONONO!!!!! It was a dream! It _had_ to be a dream! _'Please let it __be__ a dream!'_ Ino screamed within her mind, her vocal cords too restricted to allow her to scream the words out loud.

Sakura couldn't die. Ino didn't know what she'd do if Sakura died. And, worst of all, Sakura had died before Ino could apologize. Before Ino could stop trying to lie to herself, and see the truth she'd known all along. Before Ino could _tell Sakura_.

Naruto stared as Sakura's body collapsed, the world moving in slow motion. Despite the fox's disdain for her, despite the clone's hatred of her, despite logic itself telling him that she was a stuck up bitch, she was his friend! His teammate! The closest thing he had to a sister.

And she was dead because he'd failed to protect her.

It was his fault, all his fault. It was always his fault. He was a demon, a monster not fit to live. A harbinger of doom. He'd caused Sasuke to leave for Orochimaru, he'd caused Hokage-jiji to be killed by the snake bastard, he'd caused Gaara to be caught by the Akatsuki, he'd caused Haku to be slain, and now he'd caused Sakura to die. He should just vanish, and cease to exist.

This was the present, though. He could not vanish now, he could not cease to be now because then he'd damn other people. Not that he cared for them. Naruto mostly wanted to rip Hidan to shreds for daring to lay a hand on his sister.

And so he did.

A bestial roar escaped Naruto's throat, resounding throughout the surrounding area, causing everyone to stop fighting and look at him.

Naruto stared as Sakura's body hit the floor, his pupils elongated into slits and his irises turning blood red. Naruto heard as Hidan chuckled, celebrating his victory and the death of his enemy, as claws sprouted from his finger tips and his canine teeth grew into fangs. Naruto growled as he turned to face Sakura's murderer, his whisker marks thickened and his bones cracking as they broke and reset into an inhuman configuration, resembling more the werewolves of olden tales.

Naruto was no mere werewolf, though. He was a Kitsune no Jinchuuriki.

Naruto's demonic eyes fixed on Hidan, who scowled and lifted his scythe. With another roar, this one quieter and a roar of challenge rather than aguish, Naruto leapt at Hidan.

Red chakra formed around Naruto's body as he turned and leapt, the shape of a fox's body emerging, multiple tails swinging behind him. The smell of burnt flesh and blood permeated the air as Naruto was covered by a thick layer of blood, all four tails filled out to the full.

All this happened in the time it took for him to charge fifty feet.

**

* * *

**

**Cliffie!**

**1) October 4th, 2004 is the date Higuchi was captured and Light regained the Death Note**

**Wanted to end it at a different point, right where Sakura died, but couldn't figure out how to do that, express character emotions, and have the story flow well.**

**Oh, yah, there's a part in there, where Light's talking to the mysterious kid, that at least half of you are going to misinterpret. I'll tell you now: it's likely not who you think it is. Feel free to guess, and also who it is has a great impact on the story line. That mystery kid also plays a huge role.**

**Main Pairings:**

**ItaNaru**** (included)**

**LxLight**** (included****. You'll never guess how I manage this one**

**Side Pairings:**

**SasoDei**** (included)**

**HidaKaku**** (depends. Probably going to end up hinted at or an omake)**

**TemaIno**** (definitely going to be an ****omake,**** may or may not be included in actual story)**

**SuiJuu****depends. Will try to fit this one it at least some)**

**NejiKiba**** (depends)**

**ONESIDED ****InoSaku**** (I get the feeling this won't last long…)**

**TobiKisa**** or ****KisaTobi**** (cool pairing idea.**** I actually have a spot planned where this'll fit easy, and advance the plot!)**

**Any ****that don't**** will likely end up as Omakes if I'm interested enough and have the time.**

**If anyone has any other suggestions for ****pairings,**** or suggestions for the story in general, please tell me! Everyone's opinion and suggestion will be taken into account, and since I never plan stories out on paper, have a high chance of making it into the story without disrupting the flow, and also adding the story itself.**

**Please review! Constructive criticism is welcome, and helps improve my writing and helps me get rid of writers block! Flames will be used to provide me brief amusement as I laugh at the flamer.**

**Ja**** ne!**


	5. Story Up for Adoption

**Story Up for Adoption**

Not an update... To be honest, I'd forgotten about this story until one of the fans sent a request that I put the story up for adoption. Since I really liked this particular plot bunny (sadly, it chewed a hole in its enclosure and escaped), I would like to see someone continue it (hopefully with more grace and writing ability than I was able to use; -looks back at the chapters- -winces-).

If anyone wants to adopt the story, send me an email or PM outlining how you'd continue it and what you'd change in the first four chapters (and don't say that you'd change nothing; they're in serious, serious need of a major overhaul). Sadly, I've managed to lose all original documents (my hard-drive hates me) and derail all trains of thought pertaining to this story, so you'll have to go by what's posted online.

A few requirements: firstly, regardless of my previous attitude and the fact that I've been guilty of it several times in the past, **no character bashing, please**. It's started to _really, really _annoy me. If you absolutely cannot _stand_ a canon character, there are still several options open to you: follow a different interpretation of their actions/ personality than what everyone assumes (technically, we don't have an actual Word of God on any character's inner motivations), just go ahead and write them OOC (as long as said character still manages to have a well-rounded and realistic personality), or just deal with it (or don't ever mention the character, except in passing). Second: don't be a slave to canon (especially since I don't particularly like Kishimoto, his writing style, and what he's done with the story). If something in canon doesn't work with the story, throw it out. Thirdly (and most importantly): get a good beta reader. Seriously.

Other than that, feel free to take it in pretty much any direction you want; you can even change the main pairing(s) (or even make it gen) or the characterization of Naruto in particular and others to a lesser extent if you want to. Just try to make a point of mentioning any changes to me, first; I probably won't bother arguing with you, but I might have some feedback to give.

I can probably help with the last, if you don't mind the occasional delay attributable to ditziness, to teachers attempting to bury me under piles of homework, projects, study guides, and the like, and to my not having access to the internet/ simply being busy.

Good luck to anyone who decides to try! (And sorry to anyone who thought that this was a real update!)

Final note: even if you _don't_ adopt the story, feel free to use any and all ideas I introduced/ used in this. Consider it public domain or something.

(On a related note, anyone who wants to adopt either of my other stories, just contact me. I've simply been to lazy to ask for people who want to adopt them. I'll get around to it. Eventually.)


	6. Story Now Adopted

**Story Adopted**

Okay, then... Only a small handful of people (three, I think; only two had actual outlines) actually bothered competing for the right to adopt this, and not many more (a bit over twenty individual people, I think) even bothered _reading the update_, the contest is now closed! (More or less. If you still want to steal any of these ideas/ semi-adopt the story, feel free. Just credit me as your inspiration, please.)

Imperial Mint (who writes a lot of really good ItaNaru) will be officially adopting the story. Given how Murphy's Law, Real Life, and inspiration all tend to work (against authors), it's uncertain when exactly the new story's going to get into full swing. For those of you who want to follow the new version, I'll post another AN with information when the first chapter goes up.

For the curious, Imperial Mint's version isn't going to be quite like mine. It's going to be more canon compliant, for one, and (,hopefully, much) better written, for another (-glances back at past writing again- -winces, again-). The basic framework will (probably) remain more or less the same, however.

As much as I wince when I look back at my past writings (then again, who doesn't?), I (most likely) won't be deleting this anytime soon, even after Imperial Mint updates past where I got. And, if I still have any fans after my insane hiatus and my muses stop pulling in a thousand different directions at once, I'll be starting another fanfic (_after_ I more-or-less finish it on my own and then edit it heavily; learned my lesson from Clash and all my other abandoned fics [and about posting a 'finished' fic w/o leaving it to sit on my hard-drive for about a month from Chains, which is now deleted], and from a nearly fifty-thousand word fic that I've currently got rotting on my harddrive because my muse for the story decided to run away from home).

Anyways, hope that you all enjoyed the ride!


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